|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizens & Sex
Senior Men have High Rate of Return to Sexual
Function When Prostate Cancer Treated with Cryoablation
This minimally-invasive therapy and post-treatment
rehab are keys to regaining potency
March 15, 2007 Cryoablation - non-surgical
freezing and destroying of cancerous tumors - is not only an effective
primary treatment for localized prostate cancer but post-treatment
sexual function can be rapidly and substantially increased if
accompanied by a penile rehabilitation regimen, according to a study of
416 patients with an average age of 69.4 years.
Endocare, Inc., manufacturers of the Cryocare
System used in the study, said today that in this study, published in the
February edition of the journal Urology, the patients chose cryoablation
after being offered several other options including radical
prostatectomy and radiation therapy.
The study, led by David S. Ellis, M.D., was
conducted at United States Medical Development Hospital and Arlington
Memorial Hospital, both in Arlington, Texas, and Baylor University
Medical Center in Dallas. The mean patient age was 69.4 years and mean
follow-up of the entire patient group was 20.4 months.
All the patients who were potent before the
treatment were strongly encouraged to begin the penile rehabilitation
regimen six weeks after the cryoablation therapy.
Dr. Ellis noted that the study directly links
potency rates with a rehabilitation regimen after the cryoablation
therapy. A total of 29.1 percent of the patients who were potent before
cryoablation and underwent penile rehabilitation after the treatment
regained potency in one year and 51.3 percent were potent four years
later.
"This study demonstrated a substantially greater
return to potency than in any series published to date," Dr. Ellis said.
"We believe the reason for this rapid and high rate of return to sexual
function was threefold: First, cryoablation is a minimally invasive
therapy; second, the patients were told that there was a good chance
that they would regain potency, which created a hopeful atmosphere; and
finally, the regular rehabilitation program after cryoablation therapy
effectively expedited the return to erectile function."
Dr. Ellis also noted that studies of men who have
undergone focal cryoablation, a procedure in which only the diseased
portion of the prostate is frozen, demonstrated post-treatment potency
rates between 78 and 85 percent.
All the patients were treated with an Endocare
Cryocare System, which non-surgically freezes and destroys the cancerous
tumors in the prostate gland.
"It is important for patients to understand that
the treatment of prostate cancer, particularly when they choose a
minimally invasive therapy such as cryoablation, does not necessarily
mean the end of their sexual potency, even when the entire gland is
aggressively treated," said Endocare President, Chairman and CEO Craig
T. Davenport. "This study demonstrates that cryoablation will
effectively destroy the cancer in the prostate but also, if patients
take charge of their post-treatment therapy and take on a rehabilitation
regimen, there is a good chance that they may regain potency."
Studies Presented Last Year
Last November, Endocare reported there were 18
studies and papers demonstrating the effectiveness of cryoablation for
treating prostate cancer and certain other types of cancer presented at
the 92nd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological
Society of North America.
The presentations included data from a 55-patient
study on specially targeted cryoablation, also called focal cryoablation
or the male lumpectomy, showing that in certain cases prostate cancer
can be destroyed while carefully preserving a patients potency and
continence, as well as a 20-patient study performed at the Mayo Clinic
focusing on the use of cryoablation to relieve debilitating pain caused
by metastatic tumors in bones.
All of the studies, Endocare reported, involved the
non-surgical freezing and destroying of the cancerous tumors using an
Endocare Cryocare System, which "has been shown to be a less invasive
treatment option with the potential in many cases for less morbidity,
faster recovery and fewer complications than standard surgical treatment
options."
Cryoablation is effective in treating cancer
patients' pain
A study, which appeared in the March 2005 issue of
the American Journal of Roentgenology, found that cryoablation relieved
the pain of four patients who had very advanced disease. The patients
had various types of cancer that had spread to areas outside the abdomen
organs, said Damian E. Dupuy, MD, professor of diagnostic imaging at
Brown Medical School in Providence, RI. These patients were not
candidates for surgery because the tumors were too close to critical
structures or the patient had multi-focal disease. In addition,
chemotherapy or radiation therapy had not been successful in controlling
these areas of symptomatic disease.
About Endocare
Endocare, Inc. (www.endocare.com) says it is an
innovative medical device company focused on the development of
minimally invasive technologies for tissue and tumor ablation. Endocare
has initially concentrated on developing technologies for the treatment
of prostate cancer and believes that its proprietary technologies have
broad applications across a number of markets, including the ablation of
tumors in the kidney, lung and liver.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
