 Ultrasonic waves of high intensity are focused through the rectal wall on the prostatic zone to be treated |
Medical Informative Booklets
Screening
Ablatherm®
The Bordet Institute was able to acquire the Ablatherm® thanks to the help of the "Friends" who financed it entirely.
What is the Ablatherm®
The Ablatherm® is a (computer controlled) medical instrument which allows to treat an adenocarcinoma of the prostate with transrectal high-intensity focused ultrasounds. A probe is placed into the rectum under local anaesthesia and releases sound waves that due to their intensity will suddenly increase the temperature (85-100 degrees), which destroys the tissue in the targeted zone. The briefness of the phenomenon prevents a heat diffusion around the focal point.
This technique is offered to :
- patients suffering from a localised prostatic tumour, who do not qualify for a prostatectomy (because of their age, their general state or associated disease)
- patients who refuse radical surgery.
- patients with a local recurrence after external radiotherapy
Equipment :
The Ablatherm® is made up of several elements :
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- an exam table for the patient to lay down - an ultrasonic generator - an echograph to localise the prostate - a firing head equipped with an imaging probe and the treatment transducer - a computer controlled by a surgeon |
The Ablatherm® technique has many advantages :
- the targeting of the tumour
- the absence of radiation
- a brief hospitalisation
- a local anaesthesia
- the treatment can be repeated
- all the therapeutic alternatives can be used if the result is incomplete
- this technique can be used for local recurrences if radiotherapy was unsuccessful
The application of these new energy sources for the destruction of tumours will be subjected to studies carried out by the teams of the Bordet Institute in other domains (the breast, the thyroid, the uterus, the bladder ...)
(The pictures of this page come from the booklet published by the firm EDAP Technomed)
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