A senior member of the leadership team of Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire Freemasons, Tim Almond met with Dr Tana, consultant urologist, to discuss the their contribution to the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) service at Northampton General Hospital (NGH), The machine has been purchased, and training is underway to support this new treatment. A full service will be launched in June.
Dr Tana explained that at present only 20% of prostate cancer patients are suitable for HIFU intervention. However, as research advances, he is confident this will increase to over 40%. The HIFU service will be available to patients from Northampton, Kettering and Leicester, as these hospital trusts have recently been combined under one administration.
Dr Tana expressed his thanks for the support received from Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire freemasons, “Without your tremendous donation of £55,000, NGH would not be in position to offer an integrated service for treatment of prostate cancer. HIFU is at the leading edge of prostate cancer treatment and NGH is one of very few hospitals able to offer this service in the UK.”
The additional contributions to the appeal have enabled NGH to purchase a NanoKnife machine which will come into service later this year. NanoKnife is an advanced, minimally invasive, treatment for prostate cancer that uses electrical pulses to destroy cancerous cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue.
Combined with HIFU this will enable NGH to offer minimally invasive solutions for the majority of prostate cancer patients. Both are outpatient procedures with a short recovery time, typically 2 to 3 days, with a low incidence of impotence and incontinence. It is Dr Tana’s aim to ensure NGH leads the way for treatment of prostate cancer in the UK.