NEW BALLOON TRICK CAN SAVE PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS FROM IMPOTENCE

New Balloon Trick Can Save Prostate Cancer Patients From Impotence
Inflated idea: A balloon implanted in the body and then blown up could help lessen the side effects of treatment for prostate cancer
Treatment for prostate cancer can cause debilitating side-effects, including incontinence, a loss of libido and impotence. Now, doctors have developed a technique for reducing the risk of this happening - using a small balloon.
The prostate is a walnut-sized gland which lies underneath the bladder, surrounding the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder).
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, accounting for one in four tumours. The disease mainly affects those over 50, and the risk rises with age.
reatment often involves radiotherapy to kill cancerous cells. During the procedure, high-energy X-ray beams are directed at the prostate. Unfortunately, radiotherapy can also damage healthy cells surrounding the gland.
In some cases, this damage is short-term - side-effects, including tiredness and diarrhoea, last only a few weeks or months. But in others the damage is more severe, leading to urinary incontinence, a loss of libido and in 30-to-50 per cent of patients an inability to maintain an erection.
Scientists believe the new treatment, known as the SpaceGuard Balloon, will reduce this risk.
It is designed to create space around the prostate, pushing healthy tissue out of the radiotherapy's line of fire.
The balloon is placed next to the prostate. It is then filled with fluid until about the size of a peach. This acts as a shield for the healthy tissue.
The device, on trial at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in the U.S., and other centres, is implanted under a local anaesthetic.
First, a tiny incision is made in the skin,and the folded and deflated balloon is inserted. A syringe is then used to inflate the balloon using saline solution.
The procedure takes around 30 minutes and can be done on an outpatient basis. The implant, developed by Israel-based BioProtect, is designed to dissolve after three to six months, the usual length of radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer.
Researchers believe it will improve the safety and effectiveness of the therapy. It may also mean that the radiation dose can be increased, while damage to healthy tissue is reduced.
Dr Raj Persad, a urologist at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Southmead Hospital, says: 'This new technology will enable clinicians to locate more precisely the exact tissue to target.
'Apart from reducing side-effects, it may also lead to a reduction in the amount of overall radiation the body receives. I look forward to seeing the results of the study.'

A urine test could be more accurate at detecting prostate cancer than taking blood samples. The test looks for high levels of PCA3, a 'marker' found in the urine when a prostate tumour is developing. U .S. researchers found the test was more accurate at distinguishing cancerous growths from benign ones than the existing prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test.
The PSA test involves taking a blood sample to look for raised levels of the antigen, which is sometimes produced in greater quantities when prostate cancer has set in. But PSA levels can vary considerably.
They can also increase due to other non-cancerous conditions, such as an enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia. (A common problem with age, this is where the gland 'grows', pressing on the urethra causing symptoms such as incontinence and increased need to urinate.)
The results of trials of the new urine test showed men with prostate cancer had higher scores of PCA3 than those who had either benign growths or prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia - this is a tiny lesion in the prostate which may be a precursor to prostate cancer; it can disappear, remain unchanged, or progress to the cancerous stage.
Researcher Dr Christopher Amling says: 'If other studies confirm the link between PCA3 levels and tumour volume, this may help discriminate between more and less aggressive cancers.