As part of a new trial, Edward Holdbrook, a 62-year-old patient with prostate cancer, has become the first patient in the U.K. to receive MR-guided focused ultrasound treatment. During the procedure, clinicians at the Imperial College HealthCare NHS Trust were able to view the tumor in real time and track the treatment's progress.

As a result, advocates of the treatment say clinicians can ensure that they are only destroying cancerous tissue and not any healthy surrounding tissue — therefore patients are much less likely to develop the side effects that typically come along with the other treatments.

There were around 47,300 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.K. in 2013, according to Cancer Research UK, and almost a tenth of these patients undergo major surgical resection. Even though those treatments have been found to be effective, they are very invasive and can cause debilitating side effects including incontinence or impotence.

Radiation therapy is another option for patients in the U.K., and although mounting evidence suggests it has greatly improved prostate cancer outcomes, it can still cause side effects that diminish the patient's quality of life afterwards.

“Being told you have cancer is one of the worst things you can ever hear, but on top of that, to be informed that many of the treatment options available can have such life-changing side effects is very upsetting," Holbrook said in a statement. "So when my urologist suggested taking part in the trial of this new treatment called MRI guided focused ultrasound I jumped at the chance.”

The clinical trial is being conducted using INSIGHTEC's Exablate system, which received CE mark in December 2012.

Prostate cancer patients who wish to be considered for the U.K. trial can send an email to pca006@imperial.nhs.uk for additional information.

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