The Mind: Focal Cryotherapy in Low-Risk Prostate Cancer: Are We Treating the Cancer or the Mind?

Translation of Cryobiological Techniques to Socially Economically Deprived Populations—Part 2: Cryosurgery

Cold and cryogenic temperatures are used for treating cancer and other pathological conditions in various fields of medicine. Cryosurgery, which resides at the interface of medicine and engineering, has attracted the interest of engineers, scientists, and medical doctors. Recently, particularly since the end of the 1980s, technological developments in cryotherapy equipment and enormous advances in imaging techniques, such as computed tomography and ultrasonography, have allowed surgeons and interventional radiologists to precisely guide cryogenic probes into tumors while avoiding damage to surrounding tissues. Extensive studies have allowed us to conclude that the use of cryogenics facilitates the successful treatment of solid tumors in various organs such as lung, liver, bones, kidneys, prostate, etc. Its simplicity of use, effectiveness, low cost, and limited demand on hospital infrastructure and personnel have made cryosurgery particularly suitable for the treatment of patients of socio-economically deprived populations.

Do rapid emotional thermometers correlate with multidimensional validated structured questionnaires in low-risk prostate cancer?

PURPOSE

To promptly identify mental suffering in low-risk prostate cancer (LRPC) patients, vulnerable to over- and undertreatment, we evaluated the correlation of rapid emotional thermometers (ET) with multidimensional validated structured questionnaires.

METHODS

At diagnosis, consecutive LRPC patients underwent five ET domains: emotional suffering, anxiety, depression (DT), revolt and need for help and multidimensional questionnaires: beck anxiety inventory (BAI), beck depression inventory (BDI), beck hopelessness scale, SF36 (physical functioning PF, role limitations due to physical health RP, bodily pain BP, general health perceptions GH, vitality VT, social functioning SF, role limitations due to emotional problems RE and general mental health MH), international index of erectile function and international prostate symptom score (IPSS).

RESULTS

Among 30 included patients, mean age 67.4 y (52-74), 20 days after the diagnosis (15-30), mean time to obtain ET 27 s (15-57) and all questionnaires 36.7 min (31-49), ETs showed moderate/strong Spearman correlation among themselves. DT domain displayed the best correlation to most of the multidimensional validated structured questionnaires: moderate to BDI, SF-36 (PF, GH, VT, SF, RE, MH) and IPSS and strong to BAI.

CONCLUSION

DT revealed the best correlation to validated structured questionnaires of diverse dimensions with clear potential for quick screening of patients with psychological suffering and in need of further evaluation and support.

T cells CD4+/CD8+ local immune modulation by prostate cancer hemi-cryoablation

PURPOSE

Tumors escape from the immune system by decreasing CD8+ and increasing CD4+ T cells' activity, druggable targets. Thermal ablation might activate tumor-specific T cells by raising the presentation of tumor-specific antigens and hindering tumor negative immune regulation. Our aim was to assess T cell infiltrate pre- and post-cryoablation in a prospective observational study.

METHODS

A total of 240 sextant prostate biopsies cores (12 cores/patient) were collected from 10 unilateral prostate cancer patients (T1c, PSA density < 0.15 ng/dL, Gleason grade group 1, ≤ 2 cancer biopsy cores, and < 50% cancer core involvement) at diagnosis and 12 months after hemi-cryoablation. Cancer-positive (Diag+) and cancer-negative (Diag-) lobes at diagnosis and the same areas 12 months after hemi-cryoablation (Cryo+ and Cryo-, respectively) were explored by immunohistochemistry for infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (in 45 random fields per prostate lobe, 400× magnification). The quantitative analysis of cells/mm² and CD4+/CD8+ ratio were performed and compared among Diag+, Diag-, Cryo+, and Cryo- using ImageJ software.

RESULTS

There was a significant increase in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells/mm² in the Cryo+ tissue (mean, SD 0.31, 0.30) compared to Diag+ (0.18, 0.15), p = 0.015; confirmed in prostate acini (hot spots), p = 0.029, in which infiltrating CD4+/CD8+ T cells' ratio decreased after hemi-cryoablation, p = 0.006. Infiltrating CD4+ T cells/mm² presented a trend to decrease in Cryo+ (0.26, 0.27) compared to Diag+ (0.38, 0.32).

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study to show local immune modulation after prostate cancer cryoablation, characterized by decreasing CD4+/CD8+ T cells' ratio, potential for clinical impact by unleashing the T-cell response to cancer. Future studies are necessary to explore different energies and longer follow-up clinical endpoints.

Prostate cancer "super-active surveillance" era opened by vascular targeted photodynamic therapy

The "super-active surveillance" concept denotes any active surveillance optimization that allows longer surveillance periods, with the main intention of avoiding overtreatment, by safely eliminating or postponing radical treatment. Super-active surveillance might add to the oncological control with minimal functional impact and similar quality of life compared to active surveillance, which has proved to be safe in well-selected patients. Vascular targeted photodynamic therapy has pioneering shown to significantly reduce the upgrade on subsequent biopsies, resulting in fewer cases converted to radical therapy, and any energy source can be applied to the super-active surveillance concept allowing more men to consider a tissue-preserving therapy for prostate cancer.

Expanding indication of padeliporfin (WST11) vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy: results of prostate cancer Latin-American multicenter study

OBJECTIVES

To explore the proportion of patients with higher risk localized prostate cancer (PCa) that would become safely biopsy negative 12 months after non-thermal focal therapy with padeliporfin vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP).

METHODS

Multicenter study in a scenario of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≤20ng/ml and variable PCa target volumes Gleason pattern 3 or low-volume secondary Gleason pattern 4, all patients received VTP, consisting of intravenous 4mg/kg padeliporfin activated by light-diffusing fibers in the prostate. The prostate was biopsied at baseline, months 6 and 12, PSA, patient-reported functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) questionnaires were recorded at baseline, months 3, 6, and 12 and adverse events (AE) throughout the study.

RESULTS

In the intention-to-treat population (n=81), the proportion of patients with negative biopsies at month 12 was 74% (60/81 patients; 95% CI: 63.1%,83.2%). In the per-protocol population, the proportion was 79% (58/73 patients; 95% CI: 68.4%,88.0%). Questionnaire results indicated a slight improvement in urinary function and limited deterioration in sexual function. No difference in QoL was observed over time. A total of 42/81 (52%) patients reported mild or moderate and 4 of 81 (4.9%) experienced serious AE, all resolved without sequelae. No phototoxicity, cardiovascular event, fistula or prolonged urinary incontinence, secondary cancer or death was reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the efficacy, safety, and QoL associated with padeliporfin focal treatment for low/intermediate risk localized PCa.