PART is a study looking at high intensity focused ultrasound or surgery to treat prostate cancer contained in one part of the prostate gland.

PART stands for Partial prostate Ablation versus Radical prosTatectomy.

PART is recruiting men who have a medium risk of their cancer coming back and only have cancer in one area of their prostate gland. If you have prostate cancer that is contained within the prostate gland, your doctor may suggest they monitor you (active surveillance) or offer you a choice of treatments. These standard treatments include an operation to remove the prostate (radical prostatectomy) or radiotherapy to the prostate gland. But these treatments have side effects, including urinary problems (such as leaking urine) and difficulty getting an erection.

Download or print your patient information leaflet by clicking here.

MORE ABOUT PART STUDY

Some doctors think that treating only the areas of cancer in the prostate may be just as good as standard treatments that remove the whole prostate and may also cause fewer side effects. Targeting only certain areas of the prostate is called focal therapy or partial ablation. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a type of partial ablation that uses sound waves. Doctors direct the sound waves at the tissues containing cancer, causing the tissues to heat up and die. 

PART is being run in 2 stages. The first stage is the feasibility study. The aim of the first part is to see if men are willing to join the study to ensure that the researchers can successfully carry out a larger study.

If the feasibility study is successful, the researchers will then launch the larger study. The aims of this study are to:

• Find out whether focal therapy or surgery is a better treatment for men whose prostate cancer is in one part of their prostate
• Learn more about the side effects of each treatment

If you join PART during the feasibility study, you will automatically join the larger study. 

For further information click here: Trial design.