Newswise — September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Each year over 32,000 men will die from prostate cancer and about 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed during their lifetime with the disease -- the second most common type of cancer in men. Prostate cancer specialists from the Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center are lead investigators for clinical trials using the latest minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer including: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) that uses high-energy sound waves to destroy cancer cells without radiation and vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) that destroys cancer using light energy waves.

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU): Energy Waves Knocking Out Recurring Prostate Cancer

Men with recurring prostate cancer can enroll in a clinical trial at NYU Langone Medical Center that uses high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) -- high energy sound waves -- to safely destroy prostate cancer cells. Using an incision-less technique, the HIFU probe is inserted into a patient and ultrasound technology is used to target the prostate’s cancerous tissue with high energy sound waves, raising its temperature up to 100 degrees Celsius in seconds, effectively vaporizing the prostate cancer. This minimally invasive procedure causes minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue and has a low risk of side effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction. HIFU allows greater precision than radiation therapies and can be used as a primary treatment for prostate cancer. HIFU may be used as a salvage therapy following failed radiation therapy and safely repeated in the event that disease recurs locally. NYU Langone was the first academic site in the United States to begin enrolling men into clinical trials for HIFU and its faculty member serves as the national medical monitor for one of the FDA clinical trials for this technology.

Vascular-Targeted Photodynamic Therapy (PDT): The Power of Light for Localized Prostate Cancer

NYU Langone Medical Center has begun a clinical trial offering vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy to patients with localized prostate cancer. This novel, minimally invasive procedure, uses a light-activated drug to deliver light energy waves by way of laser fibers to destroy prostate cancer cells. This therapy offers the potential to destroy the cancer without making any incision or causing any potentially devastating sexual, urinary or reproductive side-effects. NYU Langone is the first academic medical center to offer PDT and the principal investigator for the national, multi-center clinical trial testing this technology.

These are just a few of the many personalized treatment options offered by the Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center. The Center, directed by Herbert Lepor, MD, the Martin Spatz Chairman and Professor of Urology, offers a wide range of the latest treatment options for prostate cancer including: active surveillance, open or robotic prostatectomy surgery, brachytherapy, external beam radiation therapy and cryotherapy. To optimize the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, the Smilow Center is investigating novel imaging, biopsy and molecular systems for selecting candidates for the latest minimally invasive and conventional treatment options.

Experts from NYU Langone Medical Center are available for comment on the full-range of treatments for prostate cancer.

The Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center is an integral component of the NCI-designated NYU Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Department of Urology at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Learn more about the Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center: http://prostate-cancer.med.nyu.edu/ .

Learn more about the NYU Cancer Institute: www.nyuci.org

About NYU Langone Medical CenterNYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class patient-centered integrated academic medical center, is one of the nation’s premier centers for excellence in health care, biomedical research, and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is comprised of three hospitals—Tisch Hospital, a 705-bed acute-care tertiary facility, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first rehabilitation hospital in the world, with 174 beds and extensive outpatient rehabilitation programs, and the 190-bed Hospital for Joint Diseases, one of only five hospitals in the world dedicated to orthopaedics and rheumatology—plus the NYU School of Medicine, one of the nation’s preeminent academic institutions. For more information, visit http://www.med.nyu.edu/.