When you hear the words “prostate cancer,” your mind jumps to the worst possibilities — surgery, radiation, endless recovery, and side effects that change how you live. It’s a lot to take in, especially when you’re otherwise healthy.
But today, treatment doesn’t have to mean losing what makes you who you are. At Urology Innovations Canada (UIC), we offer a different path — one that treats prostate cancer precisely, protects your quality of life, and helps you move forward without pressing pause on everything else.
What “Focal” Really Means
Traditional prostate cancer treatments target the entire gland, even if only a small area contains cancer. Focal therapy changes that. It’s a modern, image-guided approach that targets only the affected area while preserving surrounding tissue and function.
At Urology Innovations Canada, we’ve been at the forefront of this shift for nearly two decades.
- In 2006, we brought High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for prostate cancer to North America — a breakthrough that helped make minimally invasive, tissue-sparing treatment possible.
- Then in 2024, we added NanoKnife (Irreversible Electroporation) to our suite of focal therapies.
With these two complementary technologies, we can now treat low- to intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer in any prostate size and with tumours located anywhere within the gland — all while preserving urinary and sexual function.
You may have come across the term “focal medicine,” which refers to medications designed to act selectively within the body — drugs that circulate systemically but aim to target specific tissues or pathways. It’s a promising pharmaceutical concept, but still one step removed from the problem itself.
Focal therapy, by contrast, is not medication-based. It’s a surgical precision treatment performed by specialists using real-time imaging to target only the cancerous tissue inside the prostate. The energy — not a drug — does the work. There’s no systemic exposure, no chemical side effects, and no long list of downstream risks. Our goal is simple: eliminate the cancer while leaving everything else untouched.
This isn’t experimental. It’s proven, repeatable, FDA- and Health Canada-approved – and available right here in Toronto.
Quality of Life Comes First
Prostate Cancer Treatment Options
Every man facing prostate cancer thinks about side effects — but the reality goes deeper than medical terms. Losing urinary control or sexual function changes daily life. So does missing weeks of work or losing income during recovery.
All focal therapies at UIC are performed under general anaesthesia as outpatient procedures. You arrive in the morning, go home the same day, and usually return to normal activities within days — not months. Because only the cancerous area is treated, not the entire prostate, the risks of incontinence and erectile dysfunction are dramatically lower.
You can see how HIFU and NanoKnife (IRE) compare to surgery and radiation in our prostate cancer treatment comparison table — a quick side-by-side look at recovery time, side effects, and long-term outcomes.
In other words: focal treatment fits your life, not the other way around.
The Bigger Picture
For many patients, focal therapy bridges the gap between “doing nothing” and “doing everything.” It delivers effective cancer control with minimal side effects, allowing men to live fully without constant reminders of their diagnosis.