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Sandy Srinivas, MD
Sandy Srinivas, MD
Posted: Monday, March 6, 2023
The NanoKnife System, a potential treatment that may help some patients to avoid complete prostatectomy for prostate cancer, has begun recruiting patients for a trial to evaluate its safety and efficacy. The PRESERVE trial will be conducted across several sites in the United States, including the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
Researchers are recruiting up to 118 patients who will be treated with NanoKnife, a focal therapy using electricity to eliminate cancer cells, and standard care. Since one of the measurements of treatment effectiveness will be to assess the number of patients who are cancer-free 1 year following treatment, study patients will be observed closely through prostate-specific antigen values, MRIs, and biopsies over 12 months. Afterward, follow-up will continue for up to 5 years to monitor cancer recurrence.
Heading the trial will be Andres Correa, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology at Fox Chase, along with David Chen, MD, FACS, Professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology at Fox Chase. “[Surgery] really affects a patient’s quality of life, and if we can avoid that it would be ideal,” Dr. Correa said in a Fox Chase press release. “This technology fills a role for men who may need some treatment but for whom the traditional treatment is probably too much and can cause worse side effects or possible complications,” he added. “It’s an intermediate step that allows us to do something about the cancer while not subjecting these men to the same sort of radical treatment that we historically felt was needed.”
