Florida Hospital Waterman Offers New Non-Invasive Treatment Option for Prostate Cancer

Florida Hospital Waterman now offers HIFU, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound, for prostate cancer available for men with localized prostate cancer. HIFU is a non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer that uses ultrasound energy to destroy prostatic tissue without a single incision and no blood loss. The HIFU treatment at Florida Hospital Waterman is an outpatient procedure that allows men to return home the same day as their treatment and get back to their normal lifestyle within a few days.

Prostate cancer patients in Lake County will now benefit from having a wider range of treatment options available, said Abel Biri, CEO, Florida Hospital Waterman. HIFU is now an option to consider in addition to cryoablation, radiofrequency, microwave, laser, vascular targeted, and electroporation devices.

In July 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved partial reimbursement for HIFU that may help some patients cover part of the cost of the HIFU procedure. It is anticipated in the future that private insurance may also cover costs associated with HIFU.

Urologist and experienced HIFU physician, Jack Cassell, MD, treated the first HIFU patient at Florida Hospital Waterman on November 1, 2017. Dr. Cassell adopted HIFU as a treatment option for his patients in 2008. He traveled outside the U.S. to treat patients with HIFU until 2015 when it was cleared by the FDA for prostate tissue ablation.

I believe that HIFU is the most effective, least invasive way to cure early prostate cancer and that it will remain the crown jewel that urologists have to offer for this disease for many years, said Dr. Cassell. I am pleased to be able to offer the non-invasive treatment at Florida Hospital Waterman. Unlike surgery and radiation, HIFU boasts almost no impotence or incontinence in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Florida Hospital Waterman was the first hospital in Florida to treat Medicare patients, and was the fifth hospital in the nation that HIFU Prostate Services, LLC partnered with to make HIFU more accessible to prostate cancer patients in their communities. We are pleased with this rapid growth in the availability of HIFU and especially look forward to working with Dr. Cassell and Florida Hospital Waterman to raise awareness about the treatment in central Florida, said Jenny Robeson, chief sales officer, HIFU Prostate Services, LLC.