Many people still have no clue as to what is Robotic HIFU.

HIFU = High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound.  Robotic HIFU is obviously superior to HIFU as the actual procedure is done by a machine. 

Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital (MPUH), Nadiad - popularly known as Nadiad Kidney Hospital, is the FIRST CENTRE IN INDIA to have installed the Robotic HIFU Ablatherm for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Early prostate cancer can be cured by surgery

or HIFU, but the reality in India is that by the time patient becomes symptomatic, prostate cancer is advanced where nothing much can be done by way of treatment.

We have taken the lead to acquire this new technology for the first time in India which will give more options to treat

various stages of prostate cancer from ‘early’ to

‘advanced’.  The beauty of this technology is that it

is non-invasive, state-of-the-art technology which is

truly robotic.  Robotic means, it designs, acts and

re-acts; it has the highest degree of safety and efficacy.

What is HIFU?

HIFU, which is short for High Intensity Focused Ultrasound, is a state-of-the-art technology acoustic ablation technique that utilizes the power of ultrasound to destroy deep-seated tissue with pinpoint accuracy for treatment of prostate cancer. HIFU focuses sound waves in a targeted area which rapidly increases the temperature in the focal zone causing tissue destruction.

In most cases, HIFU is a 1 – 2.5 hour, one-time procedure performed under spinal anesthesia. Unlike radiation, HIFU is non-ionizing; this means that HIFU may also be used as a salvage technique if other prostate cancer treatments fail, like Radiation or Surgery, both of which are painful and requires hospitalization for 4-5 days.

How Does HIFU Work Against Prostate Cancer?

In order to understand the basic concept of how HIFU works, an analogy can be drawn between HIFU ablating the prostate and sunrays entering a magnifying glass to burn a leaf. When a magnifying glass is held above a leaf in the correct position on a sunny day the sunrays intersect below the lens and cause the leaf to burn at the point of intersection.  If you insert your hand into the path of either one of the sun rays individually, away from the point of intersection, there is no significant heat felt or harm caused. Alternatively, if you place your hand at the point of intersection you will be burned.

The scientific principles at work in this example are the same as those with HIFU. Instead of light as the energy source, HIFU utilizes sound. Instead of a magnifying glass HIFU uses a transducer. Just as the individual sunray is harmless to the hand, and individual sound wave is harmless to the healthy tissue it travels through.

During HIFU, the physician uses continuously updated real-time images of the prostate to map out and execute the entire treatment plan. These images show treatment progression and permit the physician to customize treatment for maximum safety and effectiveness.

The Benefits

·                    Non-invasive treatment

·                    Destruction of the cancerous tissue with minimal effect to the surrounding organs

·                    Treatment does not use radiation

·                    Treatment can be performed under spinal anesthesia

·                    Treatment can be repeated

·                    Other therapeutic alternatives can be considered if results are unsatisfactory.

·                    Ablatherm HIFU can be used for all tumor stages as for the treatment of local recurrences (i.e. after external beam radiotherapy).

No wonder, patients not just from India, from far way foreign countries are beginning to come to Nadiad for this treatment.  Medical Tourism is growing in India, and MPUH obviously is one of the preferred Centres for Nephro-Urological procedures. It is well known, MPUH has done the largest number of live kidney transplant operations in India.  Similarly, for all types of kidney stone procedures, MPUH is the preferred centre. 

MPUH is perhaps the only hospital in India of which 5 doctors are recipients of the prestigious Dr. B C Roy National Award.