Arvin K. George, MD, on study of water vapor thermal therapy for prostate cancer

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

Water vapor thermal therapy, initially used for BPH, is being adapted for prostate cancer treatment with directional and image-guided enhancements.
The VAPOR 2 trial, FDA-approved, aims to demonstrate the technology's efficacy in ablating prostate tissue and managing prostate cancer.
The study's primary goal is to eliminate grade group 2 or Gleason 3+4=7 prostate cancer within three years, with a final biopsy endpoint.

“It's really a reapplication of the existing technology for BPH that is familiar to many of us already and we use in our clinical practices,” says Arvin K. George, MD.

In this video, Arvin K. George, MD, highlights the VAPOR 2 trial (NCT05683691) exploring the safety and efficacy of water vapor thermal therapy for patients with prostate cancer. George is an associate professor of clinical urology and director of the prostate cancer programs at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Video Transcript:

Could you share some background on water vapor thermal therapy for prostate cancer?

Water vapor is actually familiar to most urologists. We use it clinically right now for BPH, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, of course, and that's the Rezum treatment. It's essentially the same treatment modality, using steam or water vapor and using convection rather than conduction to be able to treat prostate cancer or prostate tissue. It's really a reapplication of the existing technology for BPH that is familiar to many of us already and we use in our clinical practices. But now, it has been redesigned to be able to perform the treatment directionally, meaning ensuring that we can get the water vapor or steam exactly where we want it within the prostate, and also under image guidance or ultrasound MRI guidance. Those are the 2 major changes that have come forward from the BPH treatment to the current vapor technology.

What are the goals of this study?

This is actually a very unique and interesting study. It's probably the first study in the ablative space that the Food and Drug Administration have approved for such a study design. The study is actually looking at 2 things. One is what we see in many different technologies in the ablative space, which is 510(k) prostate tissue ablation approval, which is essentially being able to prove that with this technology, we're able to destroy or ablate prostate tissue. In addition to that, we will certainly evaluate the safety of the treatment, but also, we are evaluating a cancer management strategy. The goal for that is to ensure that we eliminate any grade group 2 or Gleason 3 plus 4 equals 7 prostate cancer by 3 years as those men will be followed at a final biopsy end point at 3 years.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.