MICROWAVE TREATMENT OF LOCALIZED PROSTATE CANCER

前列腺癌是美国男性癌症死亡的第二大原因。该计划旨在开发新的仪器和程序，以安全地在前列腺中产生均匀的治疗性热疗温度，以提高局限性前列腺癌患者的生存率。该仪器将通过两个独立的微波球囊导管——一个在尿道，一个在直肠——向前列腺播送微波能量。前列腺是少数可以从多个方向用微波热疗治疗的器官之一。所建议的方法将提供比单独使用任一涂抹器更均匀的加热。本文将研制一种新型尿道微波球囊导尿管，其微波涂敷器与扩张导尿管为一体，提高了天线效率，减小了导尿管直径，提高了患者的舒适度。加热下的尿道扩张同时也会为前列腺增生提供治疗——创造一个生物支架。直肠微波球囊导管将是一种全新的设计，其中膨胀球囊将天线元件施加在直肠壁上，靠近前列腺，从而压缩它，提高治疗效果。建议的商业应用：前列腺癌影响许多男性，总体治疗费用非常高。所提出的方法有可能提供一种辅助治疗，可以在“门诊”的基础上进行，以提高接受外束或植入治疗放射治疗的患者的生存率。在该计划中开发的新型导管和相关的热疗设备将成为重要的商业产品。

Prostatic cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in U.S. men. The proposed program is directed at developing novel instrumentation and procedures that will safely produce uniform therapeutic hyperthermic temperatures in prostate glands to improve the survival rates in patients with localized prostate cancer. The instrumentation will broadcast microwave power into the prostate gland from two separate microwave balloon catheters -- one in the urethra and one in the rectum. The prostate gland is one of the few organs treatable with microwave hyperthermia from more than one direction. The proposed approach will do this to provide more uniform heating than possible from either applicator alone. A new type of urethral microwave balloon catheter will be developed in which the microwave applicator and the expansion catheter are a single integrated assembly improving antenna efficiency and reducing catheter diameter for patient comfort. The urethral dilation under heating will also provide treatment for BPH at the same time -- creating a biological stent. The rectal microwave balloon catheter will be of a completely new design in which the expansion balloon will force the antenna element against the rectal wall proximate the prostate thereby compressing it and improving treatment efficacy. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Prostatic cancer affects many men and the overall treatment costs are extremely high. The proposed approach has the potential for providing an adjuvant treatment that may be performed on an "out-patient" basis to improve the survival rates in patients being treated with external beam or implant therapy radiation. The new type of catheters developed during the proposed program and the associated hyperthermia equipment will be important commercial products.