Focal therapy for the prostate began in the late 1990s; however, there is a very limited number of providers who are trained and skilled enough to perform this procedure. These 5 doctors have the most experience and have performed over 100 Focal Laser Ablation procedures:

• Myself — Eric Walser, MD of Wavelength Medical by UTMB (Galveston, TX)
• Dan Sperling, MD of Sperling Prostate Center (Boca Raton, FL)
• Jurgen Futterer, MD, PhD of Radboud (The Netherlands)
• David Woodrum, MD, PhD of Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
• John Feller, MD of Desert Medical Imaging (Indian Wells, CA)

Wavelength Medical has 1-2 years of data on the recurrence rate of cancer after focal therapies and needs an additional 3-5 years to obtain approval from insurance companies to pay for the procedure.

As most urologists do not perform and are not familiar with this procedure, they do not recommend it. Typically trained as surgeons, their preferred therapies for prostate cancer are watchful waiting or removal/ radical surgery. Focal therapy is an option in between those extremes; you might be a candidate. Check this out to learn more to see if you qualify.