Any experiences with HIFU localized ablation for prostate cancer?

dmagic, I am not familiar with HIFU treatments.

I think you are doing the right thing getting a second opinion.

It is a personal thing to decide on what is best for you after getting opinions and research. A lot of research shows active monitoring of certain stages of prostrate cancer are appropriate especially when older. At 64 you are not that old. I am 76 and chose radiation treatments to cure the cancer and stop it from growing and possibly spreading.

Are you familiar with a test called Decipher? It is a genetic test on the already obtained biopsies that gives a more precise diagnosis of risk of the cancer. Low, intermediate, high. My original diagnosis form biopsies was intermediate. Decipher came back low risk. This changed my treatments from hormone and radiation to radiation only.

I would get second opinions. Asked your urologist about Decipher tests, PSMA, and bone scans. Have you seen an oncologist and or radiologist for consultations also. What I had was proton pencil beam radiation 30 rounds over 6 weeks. I did this after getting two opinions from different providers, doing all research I could, and having all the test I mentioned above done to give me as much information possible.

Thanks so much for your lengthy and detailed response Mar1957! The only reason I had asked about the focal laser ablation was that an older sibling had sent me an article about it. From what I read that the success rate is good yet a large percentage of the test study participants had the cancer return. I don’t want this to be a lengthy and spread out process.
I wish you well and that BCBS would quit playing with peoples lives! I do plan on proceeding with the Radical prostatectomy surgery on Tuesday. My feelings are that if I decided to go with radiation or chemo and the cancer returns or they don’t get everything that it’s much more difficult to then have the radical prostatectomy. I’m not thrilled to have the threat of side affects or the long recovery period but I’d rather deal with this once and only once.
Thanks again for the insight and encouragement!

Whatever focal therapy you consider, make sure that it makes use of "in-bore MRI guided technology". Focal therapy is only as good as the accuracy of targeting the lesion during the procedure. Procedures that utilize real time MRI guidance of HIFU delivery devices are the best available at this time............and that for heat is TULSA-PRO. Cryotherapy can also be delivered in this fashion.

In-bore real Time Biopsies etc are still very rare .
Where are the locations whereby they use real time in-bore procedures for HIFU , BIOPSIES . NanoKnife , Cryotherapy etc ?

When I went to Mayo/Rochester for biopsy (11/2019) I was aware of laser ablation. I found out that Mayo wasn't, at that time, doing laser ablation, but was doing cryo ablation experimentally. I had an anterior tumor in my prostate (Gleason score 4+3). I was approved by Mayo for cryo ablation, but when I asked about reoccurrences I believe the answer was 25% in two years time. For me (age 70 at the time) that was too high a number and too soon. I rolled to Proton Beam Treatment, which I had five treatments in early February 2020, with a short course of ADT (4 months). So far my PSA is staying around .02.

How did the 5 treatments of proton therapy work for you? Is this considered SBRT? Any side effects. I’m looking at proton therapy myself.