The comparison of survival between active surveillance or watchful waiting and focal laser ablation in patients with low-risk prostate cancer

Prostate cancer(PCa)is the second-most common cancer among men.Both active surveillance or watchful waiting(AS/WW)and focal laser ablation(FLA)can avoid the complications caused by radical treatment.How to make the choice between these options in clinical practice needs further study.Therefore,this study aims to compare and analyze their effects based on overall survival(OS)and cancer-specific survival(CSS)to obtain better long-term benefits.We included patients with low-risk PCa from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database of 2010–2016.Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses were conducted for OS and CSS in the two groups.To eliminate bias,this study applied a series of sensitivity analyses.Moreover,Kaplan–Meier curves were plotted to obtain survival status.A total of 18841 patients with low-risk PCa were included,with a median of 36-month follow-up.According to the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression,the FLA group presented inferior survival benefits in OS than the AS/WW group(hazard ratio[HR]:2.13,95%confidence interval[CI]:1.37–3.33,P<0.05).After adjusting for confounders,the result persisted(HR:1.69,95%CI:1.02–2.81,P<0.05).According to the results of the sensitivity analysis,the inverse probability of the treatment weighing model indicated the same result in OS.In conclusion,AS/WW and FLA have the advantage of fewer side effects and the benefit of avoiding overtreatment compared with standard treatment.Our study suggested that AS/WW provides more survival benefits for patients with low-risk PCa.More relevant researches and data will be needed for further clarity.

Focal ablation therapy presents promising results for selectively localized prostate cancer patients

Due to its lower risk of consequences when compared to a radical approach, focal treatment is a viable and minimally invasive option for treating specific localized prostate cancer. Although several recent good nonrandomized trials have suggested that focused therapy may be an alternative choice for some patients, additional high-quality evidence is needed before it can be made widely available as a conventional treatment. As a result, we have summarized the most recent findings from the 38th Annual European Association of Urology Congress, one of the most renowned annual conferences in the area of urology, regarding focal ablation therapy for patients with localized prostate cancer. Additionally, we also provided clinical trials in progress for researchers to better understand the current research status of this field.

Harnessing macrophages in thermal and non-thermal ablative therapies for urologic cancers-Potential for immunotherapy

Prostate and bladder cancers are one of the cancers occurring worldwide.In addition to radical surgery,the past decade has also focused on targeted therapy of overexpressed cancer proteins that are lethal and critical for cancer cell survival.However,targeted therapy cannot adapt for changing of cancer molecular characteristics and,ultimately,a clone that bypasses the targeted therapy emerges.This can be overcome by immunotherapy.New studies on ablative therapy of cancers show presence of immunomodulatory effect in these modalities.Tumor ablation prime the immune system for further destruction of persistent primary tumor in addition to destruction of concurrent metastatic disease and also reduce recurrence.Ablative therapies can achieve a state of increased antigenicity.Its combination with a novel macrophage targeted therapy may enhance immune priming,trafficking,and/or effector phases;thereby improving clinical outcomes.Tumor associated macrophages or M2 phenotype are now known to mediate this immunosuppressive pro-tumorigenic effect.Alteration of macrophage differentiation may enhance tumor destruction of ablative therapy.This breakthrough in immunotherapy opens up arenas for further robust clinical trials on combinatorial therapies.In the present review,we aim to elucidate the major aspects of immune stimulatory minimal invasive approaches by combining with macrophage directed pathways.