Water Vapor Therapy to Help Treat Prostate Cancer
Can a few drops of sterile water treat prostate cancer? Doctors within the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Network are testing this approach as part of VAPOR 2, a national, multicenter clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a minimally invasive water vapor technology.
The trial is for patients diagnosed with intermediate risk prostate cancers, slow-growing tumors that present a vexing dilemma: choose active surveillance with the risk that the cancer may progress or standard therapies with the risk of side effects that may compromise quality of life.
VAPOR 2 could point the way to an alternative.
Localized, Natural Treatment Options
“For prostate cancer in general, there are two major treatments — surgery to remove the gland and radiation therapy,” said Arjun Sivaraman, MD, urologic oncologist, MCW faculty member and local principal investigator of the study. “With other cancers, like breast and kidney, medicine has transitioned from removing the whole organ to treating the cancer only and preserving as much of the organ as possible. The VAPOR 2 trial is to see if we can do the same for prostate cancer, treating just the area that has cancer, so the side effects are fewer and the patient retains sexual and urinary function.”
Called focal therapy for prostate cancer, VAPOR 2 is available for select patients who have tumors smaller than 15 mm in a single location. Like other focal therapies that freeze or heat tumors, VAPOR 2 uses energy, in this case, steam, to destroy cancer cells.
High Pressure Water Vapor Injected Into Cancer Cells
“We pass a small catheter through the urethra to the prostate, identify the cancer's location and inject very high temperature water vapor with a needle directly into the cancer and around it,” Dr. Sivaraman said. “It is under pressure, and the moment we inject it into the area of the cancer, it disperses into that space like vapor coming out of a pressure cooker to destroy the tissue.”
Physicians use an ultrasound probe and a camera inside the catheter to help guide their injections. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, and men typically go home the same day.
“The nerves for erections are close to the prostate, and if you do anything to the prostate, you can affect those nerves,” Dr. Sivaraman said. “With this option we’re investigating, we’re effectively destroying the existing cancer while protecting surrounding tissues and nerves to help men retain essential functions. This may be the future of prostate cancer management.”
Learn more at froedtert.com/clinicaltrials.
