A new treatment for early stage Prostate Cancer is "transformative," according to researchers.
The therapy features lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria, and does not cause severe side effects, BBC Newsreported.
A clinical trial of 413 prostate cancer patients at 47 hospitals across Europe found that 49 percent had no remaining trace of cancer after undergoing the treatment. Only six percent of those who had the treatment had to undergo prostate removal, compared with 30 percent who did not have the new therapy.
Many prostate cancer patients who have surgery or radiation therapy have lifelong impotence and urinary incontinence. But sexual and urination problems lasted no longer than three months among patients who had the new therapy, according to the study in The Lancet Oncology.
The drug used in the treatment is made from bacteria that live in near total darkness on the ocean floor and become toxic only when exposed to light. Ten fiber optic lasers are inserted into the prostate. When switched on, the laser activates the drug to kill the cancer without harming the prostate, BBC News reported.
The new therapy could be as important an advance for prostate cancer patients as the shift from removing the whole breast to just the lump in women with breast cancer, according to Professor Mark Emberton, who tested the technique at University College London.www.drug.com
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