Focal Therapy Revolution: How Navigo Fusion and SmartBx Are Changing Prostate Cancer Treatment

Focal therapy is a relatively recent addition to physician's toolkits to safely and effectively treat prostate cancer. It offers patients a number of benefits over traditional treatment options, and gives physicians another trusted solution for assessing, treating, and continually monitoring cancer that’s localized to the prostate.

Although focal therapy is relatively new, there has been a major breakthrough in boosting the accuracy and efficacy of the procedure. Navigo and SmartBx from UC-CARE empower urologists with more precise focal therapy procedures, better preserved biopsy specimens, and more informed treatment planning.

Focal Therapy: An MRI-Guided Prostate Biopsy

Minimally invasive, more precise, fewer side effects—there are many reasons why focal therapy has been such a breakthrough in the safe and effective treatment of prostate cancer.

During focal therapy, a physician uses the MRI-guided prostate biopsy results to precisely target the location of cancerous tissue inside the prostate gland. This allows the physician to destroy the cancerous tissue while preserving the healthy surrounding tissue.

Focal therapy is only used in patients with slow-growing, localized cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate. Since the procedure leaves the remaining healthy prostate gland intact, patients who undergo focal therapy require ongoing follow-up appointments to monitor for cancer recurrence.

Minimally invasive, MRI-targeted.

Focal therapy is a minimally invasive treatment for prostate cancer for carefully selected patients with smaller, localized lesions. It allows physicians to precisely target and destroy cancerous tissues while leaving the healthy prostate tissues in place. The procedure allows patients to manage prostate cancer without invasive surgery or radiation.

Quicker recovery.

Focal therapy is an outpatient procedure performed in a urology clinic, surgery center or hospital under anesthesia. Since the procedure is so precise, it usually does not cause any lasting impact on the body aside from temporary soreness and discomfort.

Reduced side effects.

Traditional treatments can potentially cause damage to the nerves, urethra and bowel around the prostate. Since focal therapy precisely targets only the cancerous tissues within the prostate, it reduces the risk of common side effects of radiation and prostate removal, including erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence, and bowel issues.

Navigo 4D Fusion with SmartBx: Improved Prostate Biopsy Accuracy for Focal Treatment Planning

For the level of precision needed with focal therapy, there’s no more powerful tool in a physician’s toolkit than Navigo combined with the SmartBx biopsy management system. Navigo is the only real-time 4D fusion navigation system that promotes more accurate biopsy targeting by compensating for patient motion in real time, and giving physicians complete freedom of movement.

Navigo uses real-time MRI-US fusion technology to give the physician an image-guided view of the patient’s prostate and automatically mark every single biopsy at the instant it is taken without a pedal or button. Coupled with the SmartBx, which preserves the biopsy core intact, and allows the pathologist to identify exactly where the tumors are within the core, physicians can pinpoint the cancerous tissues localized to the prostate gland for highly accurate biopsies and better identify the safe focal treatment zone(s). More viable specimens support more accurate diagnoses, making Navigo a revolution for both physician confidence and patient outcomes.

Works with, not against, patient motion.

Navigo is the only fusion navigation system that automatically compensates for patient movement during focal therapy. This patented technology allows for precise, pinpoint targeting of cancerous tissues within the prostate, for the most accurate possible treatment.

Physician freedom of movement.

Seamless focal therapy starts with Navigo. It is the only fusion system that automatically updates all biopsy locations throughout the procedure, cutting down on restarts, delays, and manual repositioning. With no buttons or pedals, the system’s easy interface lets physicians a more focused, less disrupted procedure.

Comprehensive workflow integration and treatment planning.

The Navigo 4D fusion navigation system is simple to integrate into existing workflows. Compatible with most commercially available ultrasounds, Navigo allows physicians to easily import and display historical biopsy data, perform treatment planning, and display 3D pathology results.

SmartBx Biopsy System: Elevated Specimen Quality

Focal therapy is a breakthrough for treating prostate cancer, but optimal results are only possible when core specimens are properly handled. The unfortunate truth is that up to 40% of tissue samples are lost or damaged when transitioned from needle to slide using standard collection and processing methods.

The SmartBx™ biopsy management system offers safe, fast and efficient specimen removal from the needle. The system maintains the core location and orientation of the specimen while preserving its integrity during needle-to-slide transfer. Using SmartBx boosts detection rates by a full 25%,1 for a more accurate picture of the patient’s prognosis.

Improved specimen transfer.

SmartBx optimizes the method for transferring prostate tissue specimens from the needle to the slide. Simply place the biopsy gun onto the SmartBx system to maintain the needle position, allowing for quick and simple transfer to the SmartBx cassette.

Better specimen preservation.

The efficient transfer method to the SmartBx cassette preserves the core and the orientation of the specimen, offering more protection and information than standard collection methods.

Increases detection rates by 25%.

Better specimen preservation is the first step toward better pathology assessments. SmartBx supports the accurate identification of focal treatment zones, giving physicians the ability to more precisely diagnose the localized areas within the biopsy cores and make a more informed treatment plan.

Precise Focal Therapy with UC-CARE

Focal therapy with Navigo and SmartBx can lead to a more precise procedure, more accurate diagnosis, and a more informed treatment plan. Leading urologists rely on this advanced system for personalized, precise treatment of prostate cancer for their patients.

Schedule a discovery call to see how UC-CARE’s prostate biopsy solutions can raise the bar for focal therapy for your practice.

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References

1. Cohen M, Yudkevich B, Yodko H, Elmalah I. PD26-08 IMPROVED TISSUE YIELD AND PROSTATE CANCER DETECTION OF A NOVEL BIOPSY PRESERVATION SYSTEM. Journal of Urology [Internet]. 2016 Apr 1 [cited 2025 May 21];195(4S):e647. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2016.02.369