Focal Therapy and Radiotherapy combined

I haven't heard about this, but if it means not having the full course of radiotherapy, I'd advise against it.

HIFU is not a curative treatment, and, realistically, if you have a curable cancer, you only get one chance to cure it. Success isn't guaranteed, even then, but failure is, if you miss that window of opportunity. Once you give the cancer the option to come back, it will, sooner or later. 

If you don't have a curable cancer, it's a completely different matter, of course, and limiting the nastier effects of radiotherapy might well be a good choice. It would depend on the details of your diagnosis.

If you have major pre-existing conditions, it might be worth considering too.

And of course if your years are so advanced that you feel it's a safe bet, then OK.

Otherwise, go for the cure.

Like Heinous, I've not heard of this mix either.

I doubt if there is much in the way of success rates available so would be a bit of a gamble.

Be careful if it's a private clinic doing a sales talk on you.

If it's NHS then could be a different matter because I don't think they would take on a new treatment without 

making sure that it has good results.

Unless  u have added complications u can't really go wrong with Radiotherapy.

Best wishes

Steve

Hi Heinous,

Thank you for your feedback. I started looking into this and asking questions, because I first read about this in Prostate Cancer UK as a breakthrough treatment. https://prostatecanceruk.org/research/research-hot-topics/focal-therapy

I found out focal therapy wasn't suitable for my Prostate Cancer because it had spread to the lymph nodes. I then discovered the clinic providing this service was working with University Hospital Southampton to develop what I thought would be the obvious, combining the two therapies to reduce the levels of side effects.

I was hoping to find somebody who had been through the process, in order to get some independent feedback while I wait for my questions to be answered by Mr Tim Dudderidge who seems to be respectable enough to be a clinical champion for Prostate Cancer UK.

I wish to explore my options before my expected radiotherapy treatment in 2022.

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your advice, I believe it has been looked at by the NHS. But I'm still looking to find examples of anybody who's been through the treatment. One of my next stop is to post a question to the NHS research division to see if they have any definitive answers on the subject.

Regards,

Donald

Good luck with it; do ask what proportion of the 'normal' radiotherapy you'll be getting, and if it's part of a research study, make sure they don't invoice you