Hi,
Unless you can find somebody who is doing HIFU as a primary treatment on the NHS, perhaps as part of a trial , you have to be looking at circa £13000 for it privately. It is a focal treatment that is mostly given as a salvage procedure for failed RT in the UK and it can be had for this reason within the NHS, usually within a trial. If you want to consider the treatment further I suggest you make contact with UCLH about it. However, by no means is everybody suitable for what is a niche treatment. The tumour that requires treating must be in part of the Prostate that the probe, which delivers the HIFU via the rectum, can focus on. Also, there can be a point where the Tumour is too great to be effectively treated by HIFU and a Prostatectomy or RT may be better options.
However, for suitable men, the side effects are generally more mild than Prostatectomy or RT, which can subsequently be undertaken if needed, as indeed HIFU can sometimes be repeated. Nevertheless, it should be noted that because only a single or very few significant tumour(s) is/are treated, it can happen that another tumour may develop elsewhere in the Prostate. Furthermore, there is a lack of long term assessment on the treatment.
So for some, HIFU will do the job long or short term, but one should be aware further treatments may be necessary as mentioned above.
Edited by member 06 Jun 2021 at 03:05
| Reason: Not specified
Barry |