Focal Therapy For Prostate Cancer

Based on the latest published data from Singapore Cancer Registry 50th Anniversary Monograph (1968–2017), a whopping 30.7 per cent of Singapore men already have terminal Stage 4 prostate cancer in 2017 when they are found to have it. Only 51 per cent of Singapore men who are first diagnosed with early Stage 1 or Stage 2 prostate cancer are potentially cured.

- Dr Kien Tai Chong

In the US, the number of late-stage prostate cancer has also increased between 2003 and 2017, from 4 per cent to 8 per cent, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Morbidity and mortality weekly report on 16 October 2020. Top prostate cancer experts like Dr. Anthony D’Amico at Harvard Medical School said this increase was an inevitable consequence after the US Preventive Services Task Force in 2012 did not recommend routine prostate cancer screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

Since most men with prostate cancer may not feel pain or discomfort, every man above 50 years old needs to know their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. The majority of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer from an abnormal blood test called prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and subsequent prostate biopsy that shows cancer cells.

Treating Early-Stage Prostate Cancer

When prostate cancer is diagnosed in its early stages, these cancer cells are still localized within the prostate gland and have not spread to other parts of the body. However, existing standard-of-care treatment options to treat localized prostate cancer, including da Vinci robotic radical prostatectomy surgery and primary radiotherapy, may cause life-changing side effects.