What makes Sonablate HIFU unique?
All HIFU is not Equal.
HIFU is being used around the world to treat all types of soft tissue diseases, although some of the most extensive research has been for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. There is more than one device that uses HIFU to treat prostate cancer, so it is important to understand the characteristics and features of Sonablate HIFU that make it unique and its treatments customizable. Sonablate HIFU is a minimally invasive, precise medical procedure that uses ultrasound to rapidly heat and destroy tissue.
The Sonablate system incorporates customized treatment and safety technologies in an effort to strike a balance that has been difficult to achieve in prostate cancer treatment—increasing disease control capabilities while decreasing quality-of-life side effect risks.
What makes the Sonablate HIFU Unique?
A Sonablate HIFU physician can completely customize a patient’s treatment plan based on real-time tissue response, tissue density and location of vital structures. Competitive devices are limited to three pre-set power levels: primary, repeat HIFU and salvage (post radiation treatment), no patient receives a customized treatment based on their personal anatomy.
Sonablate HIFU technology allows for smaller lesion size and ability to treat larger prostates. The Sonablate creates a 10-12mm lesion, which conforms optimally around vital structures, allowing for complete tissue ablation throughout the gland and decreased risk for untreated tissue remaining. The competing device creates a 19-26mm lesion, which compromises the treatment around smaller critical spaces that can result in tissue being left untreated.
Patients with up to a 40 gram prostate can be treated with Sonablate HIFU without receiving a surgical procedure known as a TURP to decrease its volume. The competing device treats prostates of up to 24 grams in volume without a TURP; patients with larger glands up to 40 grams must first undergo a TURP.
Sonablate software includes proprietary software and hardware advancements designed to increase the information feedback to the physician performing Sonablate HIFU and control the temperature of the probe, including:
1. Neurovascular bundle detection which helps identify the position of nerve bundles and have the ability to display that detection on screen during therapy.
2. Rectal wall monitoring to determine temperature of, and proximity to, rectal wall.
3. Active cooling system that circulates chilled water through the probe during treatment and monitors temperature.
4. Real-time image monitoring which allows the physician to view the original image created during the planning phase while simultaneously viewing the real-time image being treated.
The competitor’s system does not include the same features. Its features include external motion detection, which may not translate to gland movement, and use of refrigerated gel to keep temperatures low
Click here for detailed comparison of features between Sonablate HIFU and Ablatherm.>>
