Cancer meets a profound opponent

Millions live with prostate cancer, yet only 200,000 men a year undergo surgery to address it—and those who do can face serious side-effects.

There is another way. In 2007, scientists at Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital discovered a non-invasive way to treat the second most common cancer among men. Ultrasound can kill most of the cancerous cells—a ground-breaking idea and one they wanted to commercialize.

Since then Profound Medical Inc. has been testing and perfecting the procedure, which it calls the Tulsa-Pro. Doctors use real-time MRI guidance to insert a tube into the urinary pathway, and then use ultrasound waves to heat the prostate to 55 degrees Celsius. It’s quick and has nearly no impact on the patient.

The potential of this technology, which is already being used in Europe and could reach the U.S. market this year, is enormous, says Dr. Arun Menawat, Profound’s CEO. “I built two billion-dollar-type companies before this,” he says. “I can tell you Profound has more potential.”

That’s because so many men attempt to live with prostate cancer rather than undergo a surgical procedure that can result in a total loss of erectile function, and leaves about 30 per cent of patients wearing diapers for life.