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HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound), as well as cryotherapy, are not adequate treatment alternatives in the therapy of localized prostate carcinoma, according to the new prostate carcinoma guideline recently presented by the German Society of Urology (DGU). So far, there are no study data that justify the use of the two treatment methods, according to the consensus of the experts.
Both HIFU and cryotherapy are experimental procedures that are still being tested. Overall, very few publications and low patient numbers are available for both methods. While the longest follow-up period for HIFU therapy spans a period of only 27 months1 , the number of patients for cryotherapy currently amounts to less than 100 patients per year. The data situation therefore does not allow the efficacy and safety as well as the cure rates of the two treatment methods to be assessed with certainty, the experts summarize.