PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, Jan 18, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. medical tourists
are headed to Latin American health clinics to receive a controversial prostate
cancer treatment not approved in the United States.
High-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU therapy, uses isolated bursts of
high-intensity sound waves that produce temperatures 80-90 degrees Celsius to
attack cancerous tissues in the prostate through a rectal probe, The New York
Times reported Friday.
U.S. HIFU, a company touting the treatment at international clinics, said the
treatment provides an alternative to more conventional treatment without the
sexual or urinary side-effects of other treatments.
The director of the U.S. HIFU, Dr. George M. Suarez, told the Times the
treatment's $25,000 price tag is justified and claimed the treatment is an
alternative to surgery or radiation with fewer side effects.
U.S. HIFU is sponsoring FDA-approved clinical studies to win approval for the
treatment in the United States. Canadian and EU officials have approved the
treatment.
Dr. Peter Scardino with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center told the
Times the treatment does provide an alternative method but added that "for the
treatment of the average ordinary prostate cancer, I think it's a second-class
form of therapy."
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International