TORONTO, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A novel therapy for prostate cancer may offer patients a faster, more precise treatment with fewer side effects, Canadian clinicians said.

The new treatment -- magnetic resonance imaging-guided transurethral ultrasound -- uses heat from focused ultrasound to treat cancer in the prostate gland precisely, while sparing the delicate noncancerous tissues around the prostate essential for healthy urinary, bowel and sexual function.

Scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute, in Toronto, Dr. Michael Bronskill and Dr. Rajiv Chopra, have licensed their innovation and formed Profound Medical Inc., which will develop the technology for clinical use.

Unlike surgical removal of the prostate, the treatment is minimally invasive and could be performed without a lengthy hospital say, the clinicians said.

In preclinical studies treatment takes less than 30 minutes. The therapy, on which clinicians at Sunnybrook will conduct preliminary testing in preparation for a clinical trial, could help limit the number of men living with the common, debilitating and often permanent side effects of surgery and radiation treatments currently used.

The therapy involves two different and naturally incompatible technologies, ultrasound and MRI, which Bronskill and Chopra spent 10 years making compatible for the prostate treatment.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.