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What to Expect:
TULSA® for Prostate Cancer
Your TULSA for Prostate Cancer Appointment
For patients receiving treatment with Transurethral Ultrasound Ablation (TULSA) for Prostate Cancer.
Overview
The day before
We perform a non-invasive physical, give a shot of antibiotics to decrease the risk of infection, review the MRI images, discuss the risks, benefits, and alternatives of the procedure, answer your questions, review instructions, and finalize paperwork.
The day of
Early the next morning, we perform the procedure, and you’ll go back to your home or hotel room shortly afterwards.
The day after
We see each patient again to see how they are doing, give another shot of antibiotics (again, decreasing the risk of infection), review the MRI images from the procedure, answer questions, and provide more instructions.
Travel note
For individuals traveling from outside the Houston area, we can recommend hotels as well as transportation options to help ease your travel planning.
1 The day before the procedure
Our doctors and nurses provide our personal cell phone numbers to every laser focal therapy patient we treat. This way, our patients can always reach us. We’ll also meet with you the day before, the day of, and the day after the procedure.
- Perform a non-invasive physical
- Give a shot of antibiotics to decrease the risk of infection
- Review the MRI images
- Discuss the risks, benefits, and alternatives of the procedure
- Answer your questions, review instructions
- Finalize paperwork
2 The day of the procedure
The Procedure
- On the day of the procedure, you will have an intravenous catheter (IV) inserted in your arm so that we can provide you with IV antibiotics, pain medications and fluids to maintain hydration.
- A board-certified anesthesiologist will then administer propofol while starting the process of general anesthesia.
- As part of general anesthesia, you will be intubated (a breathing tube inserted) and attached to a ventilator. An IV medication, which temporarily paralyzes you, will be administered. This is very important for TULSA because even small amounts of movement can throw off the computer control system that drives the ultrasound ablation device.
- While you are fully asleep, we move you over to the MRI table for the procedure. We then place the ultrasound application inside, which goes from the penis into the bladder. We also place a rectal cooling device to help protect the rectum from damage.
During the procedure, the device uses real-time 3T MRI to visualize the targeted area and obtain temperature maps, which the computer control system uses to control the areas of ablation.
Duration
The entire procedure is usually finished within about 2-4 hours.
Results
Results are confirmed with contrast-enhanced MR images.
3 The day after the procedure
The Foley catheter is usually removed ten to fourteen days after the procedure (often by the patient after flying home—written instructions are provided).
