Focal Therapy Use Remains Uncommon in Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer

THURSDAY, Sept. 3, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer, focal therapy use has remained uncommon across risk groups, and its use is defined as inappropriate in about half of recipients, according to a research letter published online Aug. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Andrea Cosenza, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study using the National Cancer Database to examine patterns and temporal trends of focal therapy use among U.S. patients aged 50 years or older with nonmetastatic prostate cancer diagnosed between 2010 and 2023. Focal therapy use in low-, high-, or very high-risk disease was defined as inappropriate.

The study population included 1,179,384 participants. The researchers found that 1.3 percent of patients received focal therapy overall. Of these recipients, 51.0 percent had low-, high-, or very high-risk disease, while 49.0 percent had intermediate-risk disease (2,786 and 4,901 with favorable and unfavorable intermediate-risk disease, respectively). In recipients with low-risk disease, the rate of focal therapy did not change significantly from 2010 to 2023 (1.8 to 2.2 percent; P = 0.46 for trend). A significant increase was observed in those with favorable intermediate-risk disease (2.1 to 2.9 percent), while decreases were seen in those with unfavorable intermediate-risk, high-risk, and very high-risk disease (2.5 to 1.9 percent, 2.1 to 0.9 percent, and 1.8 to 0.5 percent, respectively; all P < 0.001 for trend).

“Our findings highlight the need to ensure that promising new treatments are adopted in ways that are supported by evidence and matched to the patients most likely to benefit,” senior author Quoc-Dien Trinh, M.D., also from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

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