Laser Interstitial Thermotherapy in Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a common malignant tumor occurred in elder men, for which radical prostatectomy is officially recommended to be the most effective treatment. Laser interstitial thermotherapy(LITT)is one of the new-developed techniques in focal therapy, which is a good choice for those who cannot, do not want, or are unnecessary for surgery. LITT is based on the photothermal effect to induce heat energy in a very short time, increasing the temperature and causing irreversible damages and destruction. LITT is rapidly developed with satisfactory results in phase I clinical trails and small-sample researches, showing the high clinical value in future. But it lacks long-term results and large-scale multicentre prospective studies, and the standards vary among reports. It still needs more clinical experience and large studies to apply LITT.