What You Need To Know
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Hackensack University Medical Center’s Department of Urology is now offering "Focal One," a noninvasive treatment option for patients with localized prostate cancer.
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Focal One is an advanced robotic high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system that allows Hackensack University Medical Center urologists to precisely target and destroy diseased prostate tissue using sound waves — minimizing the risk of side effects, such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction often associated with surgery, to remove the prostate and radiation therapy.
The system combines real-time ultrasound image guidance with MRI and biopsy data to create a 3D image of the targeted treatment area. Using a small probe inserted into the rectum, a urologist navigates to the tumor using 3D image guidance, directs high-speed ultrasound energy at the target area and ablates only the diseased portion of the prostate — without the need for any incisions.
The addition of Focal One builds on the Department of Urology’s reputation for state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary care for urologic cancers. For the past 15 years, Hackensack University Medical Center urologist Kevin Basralian, M.D., has been traveling worldwide — including the Bahamas, Switzerland and Canada, where the technology has been approved for years — to perform HIFU procedures for prostate cancer, making him one of the premier physicians in New Jersey at performing HIFU procedures. Dr. Basralian has also participated in research on HIFU for prostate cancer and worked to raise awareness about focal therapy as an option for patients.
The fusion of these technologies enables urologists to destroy tumors with increased precision and less damage to surrounding healthy tissue, minimizing the risk of side effects associated with radical prostatectomy surgery or radiation therapy.