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| High Intensity Focus Ultrasound HIFU |
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High Intensity Focus Ultrasound, or HIFU, is a treatment for prostate cancer.
Collaboration between the INSERM, l'Hospital Edouard Herriot in Lyons and EDAP TMS
lead to the development of Ablatherm HIFU, the device that administers the treatment.
It is licensed in the EU and several further countries. As of February 2009 some 17.000 treatments have been performed. As of June 2009 this figure is up to 19923 and has reached 20.516 in August.
How does it work?
3MHz high intensity ultrasound waves are focused through the rectal wall to the targeted prostate area. This destroys the cancerous tissue by applying controlled heat. Therapeutic ultrasound does not produce any radiation and disappears as soon as the treatment is finished.
Before using Ablatherm HIFU, a high performance integrated 3D imaging system locates and analyses the prostate. Unlike traditional techniques, Ablatherm HIFU is accurate down to the millimetre, which means there is less risk of destroying the neighbouring healthy tissue. A focal point is relatively small (2 x 20 mm) so several are targeted in order to treat the entire prostate. This means there is a higher probability that the tumour will be destroyed.
The first phase of the treatment involves an ultrasound scan of the prostate. The computerized system will then recreate the prostate in 3 dimensions to enable the surgeon to plan the treatment on the screen and to program the robot to define the area to be treated. Once the treatment has been planned the shooting phase can begin.
The robotic probe will then carry out the surgeon's instructions automatically and extremely precisely (orders are accurate to a few millimetres). Every 10 seconds the probe generates a high intensity focused ultrasound beam which is used to destroy a very small part of the prostate with intense, very fast, highly localised heat. This phenomenon generates almost no pain for the patient after treatment. This elementary lesion will be followed by a number of adjacent lesions, several hundred in fact, which gradually, one after the other, enable the entire prostate to be treated. The treatment lasts between 1.5 to 3 hours depending on the volume of the prostate
Unlike radiotherapy, the results of which are only known two years after treatment, Ablatherm HIFU enables patients to get a clearer idea of their situation soon after being treated. A few weeks after treatment, laboratory tests or a biopsy would be carried out to provide an initial indication of the effectiveness of treatment. This way, patients can consider a second course of treatment if the first session did not provide the desired results. In approximately 80% of cases, one treatment is enough.
This is a major advantage over other techniques which, if they fail, leave the patient at a therapeutic impasse because follow-up treatment is very difficult, if not impossible. In addition, Ablatherm HIFU provides non-invasive treatment, which requires only a short period of hospitalisation and allows patients to return to their everyday lives shortly thereafter.
Today, in certain cases, Ablatherm HIFU may offer a second therapeutic option if, for example, radiotherapy has failed. Ablatherm is certified for use in salvage therapy for patients experiencing recurrence and failure of a prior radiotherapy treatment.
It has specific settings for this situation.
The infoholix Treatment Fund (iTF) funds
prostate cancer treatments for those who
cannot obtain it through their national health
systems. Your donation is appreciated.
Please visit "Prostate Cancer therapies" on the right hand menu.
Listings are by invitation.
Please contact by email:
ceo at infoholix.net
Wilfrid Hartnagel
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1. The infoholix Treatment Fund (iTF) provides Ablatherm HIFU treatments.
Ablatherm HIFU clinics are predominantly located in Europe. Median treatment costs are 15.000 Euros. These costs are of no concern to Europeans covered by obligatory or private health insurance, for others they can be an insurmountable obstacle.
iTF has arranged with clinics to perform Ablatherm HIFU treatments for under half the median costs. Capacity for those is limited, it will be increased through funds provided by infoholix Investment Fund (iIF).
We believe you should pay according to your ability to pay. Your ability to pay, or the lack of it, should not prevent you or disqualify you from obtaining life-saving treatments. Your are free to make a donation on top of your clinic invoice. This donation
is used to fund treatments for the lesser fortunate.
The iIF is funded by Social Responsible Investors (SRI).
An Ablatherm HIFU unit has capacity for 250 treatments/year when installed in a European clinic. Median treatment charges generate an excellent return for the profit seeking investor which is regarded as complementary to vast profits achieved with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, treatments that cause the damage that Ablatherm HIFU seeks to remedy. Ablatherm HIFU is designed as
"salvage treatment" and licensed as such in Europe.
iIF´s objective is to install Ablatherm HIFU units in developing countries. Capacity of each unit can be increased to 1.000 treatments per year by operating 24/7. This generates low treatment costs and an adequate ROI with low risk.
Many developing countries train sufficient doctors for the needs of their health systems.
These doctors get poached, head hunted, by Western health systems. Zambia, for example, has trained 3.000 doctors of which 500 remain in the country. This is the primary reason why health systems in developing countries collapse. A junior doctor
will earn $180.000 in a US hospital and less than $10.000 in Zambia. The costs of training these doctors are a burden to Zambia, the beneficiaries are Western countries.
Zambia sponsors Western health systems, not by choice but as a victim of profit orientated Western systems. Zambia´s GDP is $800 per head per year. Health care purchasing power cannot compete with Western standards. Competition between equals is fine, between un-equals it leads to exploitation. Life expectancy is below 40 years as a result, 38.53 for males and 38.73 for females to be exact. The SRI involved in iIF realizes this fact.
Ablatherm HIFU units installed in Zambia create "Medical Tourism". It brings back those doctors who have migrated and encourages others to stay. Sophisticated treatments improve the image and provide appropriate incomes for doctors and nurses. Poor locals benefit from the "ability to pay" philosophy.
I, Wilfrid Hartnagel, owner of infoholix.net, manage iTF and iIF. Treatment seekers and SRI are welcome to contact me via my private email below.
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2. HIFU information for patients. Site by EDAP-TMS, the manufacturer of Ablatherm HIFU.
Check out the videos of patients interviewed before, DURING and after treatment.
Note: one patient had no PSA but a big cancer tumor.
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3. Prostate Cancer sufferers in USA.
Have you been diagnosed with early stage or advanced stage prostate cancer?
Or have you had radiotherapy already and have now reached the stage where salvage treatment is needed?
According to studies that the public is often not aware of, failure rates of radiotherapy are 50% at 2 years and 75% at 5 years.
In comparison, HIFU has a 98% prostate cancer specific survival rate, that´s a failure rate of 2%, in addition 69% are biochemically disease free at 7 years (yes, 7, not 2 or 5). I´ll be glad to send you a long term study as attachment.
Your physician may accompany you to a HIFU clinic, obtain HIFU tuition and take part in your HIFU treatment.
I shall arrange your HIFU treatment abroad.
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4. Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital in Nadiad, Gujarat, the first hospital in India to provide Ablatherm HIFU.
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