HIFU is becoming increasing popular as a primary alternative treatment for men diagnosed with prostate cancer that is confined in the gland. Commonly used in Europe and in Mexico, HIFU is also being evaluated in a clinical trials in the United States. As with all primary prostate cancer treatments, it too has a failure rate. Recently there has been a study using salvage radiotherapy after HIFU to evaluate its feasibility, tolerance, and oncologic control
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From March 1995 to May 2004, 45 patients presenting with local failure after HIFU underwent salvage radiotherapy alone (n = 32) or combined with hormonal therapy (n = 13). Both the tolerance for the radiation therapy was evaluated by using the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group score for urinary and digestive side effects, and incontinence was evaluated using the Ingelman Sundberg score. Subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire, which was then tabulated by the researchers.
For the 32 patients who underwent radiotherapy alone, the oncologic early results were evaluated by the disease-free survival rate, defined as no biochemical progress