SFC may be used to delay the use of ADT. Further assessment of our findings with high-powered studies and longer follow-up is required.

Purpose. Active surveillance is an emergent strategy for management of indolent prostate cancer. Our institution's watchful waiting protocol, Active Holistic Surveillance (AHS), implements close monitoring for disease progression along with various chemopreventive agents and attempts to reduce unnecessary biopsies. Our objective is to report on the treatment rates of men on our AHS protocol as well as determine reasons for progression. Materials/Methods. Low risk and low-intermediate risk patients were enrolled in AHS at Winthrop University Hospital between February 2002 and August 2015. Our IRB-approved study analyzed survival rate, discontinuation rates, and definitive treatments for patients in our AHS cohort. Results. 235 patients met inclusion criteria. Median age and follow-up for the cohort were 66 (44–88) years and 42 (3–166) months, respectively. The overall survival for the cohort was 99.6% and the disease specific survival was 100%. A total of 27 (11.5%) patients discontinued AHS. Conclusion. The incorporation of chemopreventive agents in our AHS protocol has allowed patients to prolong definitive treatment for many years. Longer follow-up and additional studies are necessary to further validate the effectiveness of AHS.

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy amongst American men. However, the majority of prostate cancer diagnoses are of low risk, organ-confined disease. Many men elect to undergo definitive treatment, but may benefit from focal therapy to maintain continence and potency. This review reports the mechanism of action and outcomes of emerging focal therapies for prostate cancer. We report the mechanism of action of focal cryotherapy, high intensity focused ultrasound, focal laser ablation, and irreversible electroporation. In addition, we reviewed the largest studies available reporting rates of urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, biochemical recurrence-free survival (ASTRO), and post-operative adverse events for each procedure. Each treatment modality stated has a unique mechanism in the ablation of cancerous cells. Genito-urinary symptoms following these studies report incontinence and erectile dysfunction rates ranging from 0-15% and 0-53%, respectively. Biochemical disease-free survival was reported using the ASTRO definition. Some treatment modalities lack the necessary follow-up to determine effectiveness in cancer control. No focal therapy studies reported serious adverse events. These minimally invasive procedures are feasible in a clinical setting and show promising functional and disease control results with short to medium-term follow-up. However, each treatment requires additional robust prospective studies as well as its own unique domain to determine biochemical recurrence free survival to properly determine their role in treatment of organ-confined prostate cancer.

A significant drop in post-PFC PSA may indicate elimination of the index lesion. Patients who are likely to recur biochemically have a significantly higher PSAV compared to those who do not recur. Nadir PSA of less than 2 ng/ml may be considered the new normal PSA in focal cryotherapy (hemiablation) follow-up.

The small number of patients with follow-up multiparametric MRI findings showing worsening disease supports the role of MRI in patients with early-stage prostate cancer. Multiparametric MRI is useful in monitoring patients on active surveillance and may identify patients with clinically significant cancer amenable to definitive treatment.