Long-Term Clinical Data Supports Electroporation-Based Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Physicians from Offenbach, Germany, have recently published a clinical overview exploring 15 years of continuous application of electroporation-based treatments for prostate cancer, including reviews of two retrospective cohort analyses examining irreversible electroporation and electrochemotherapy.

The data, provided by VITUS Privatklinik, represents one of the longest-running single-center clinical experiences involving electroporation in prostate cancer and adds substantial observational data to the growing study of focal therapy approaches.

Focal therapy has become increasingly common in prostate cancer treatment because of its ability to target tumors more precisely while potentially reducing some of the complications associated with surgery and radiation.

Electroporation is not the only rising focal therapy for prostate cancer. Other forms, including high-intensity focused ultrasound and cryotherapy, are also becoming popular treatment methods. However, these treatments rely on extreme heating and freezing, which can result in damage to surrounding structures through thermal spread, a drawback not associated with non-thermal approaches like electroporation.

While electroporation was first explored as a potential cancer treatment in the 1980s, clinical application in prostate cancer remained relatively limited until the introduction of irreversible electroporation.

Developed as a focal therapy in 2005, irreversible electroporation was introduced as a prostate cancer ablation technique in 2011, with VITUS Privatklinik beginning clinical application in collaboration with the technology’s inventor, Dr. Boris Rubinsky.

Over the past 15 years, the clinic has performed more than 2,000 electroporation-based procedures, representing one of the longest-running continuous clinical applications of electroporation in prostate cancer.

During that period, two retrospective cohort analyses examining irreversible electroporation and electrochemotherapy were published in peer-reviewed journals, covering outcomes across more than 600 prostate cancer treatments combined.

VITUS published its first peer-reviewed study in PLOS ONE in 2019. The retrospective analysis included 471 irreversible electroporation treatments performed in 429 patients across multiple grades and stages of prostate cancer, with follow-up extending up to six years.

According to the published findings, IRE demonstrated five-year recurrence rates comparable to contemporary radical prostatectomy outcomes, while researchers also reported preservation of urinary continence and a 3% rate of persistent erectile dysfunction at 12 months.

The clinic published its second peer-reviewed study in Radiology and Oncology in 2025, examining electrochemotherapy in 144 prostate cancer patients. Approximately 86% of the cohort was classified as high-risk disease, including patients who were either ineligible for or declined surgery or radiation treatment.

According to the published analysis, the treatment achieved 100% technical success across all evaluated patients, while 75% demonstrated a complete response. Researchers concluded that electrochemotherapy appeared feasible and safe, with early findings suggesting encouraging signs of local disease control, including among patients with high-risk and locally advanced disease.

The program was led by Prof. Dr. mult. Michael K. Stehling, founder and medical director of VITUS Privatklinik, who has worked with electroporation-based therapies since their early clinical introduction in prostate cancer treatment.

Stehling said the clinic made a deliberate decision early on to focus on electroporation-based focal therapies despite surgery and radiation remaining the dominant standards of care.

“We are not a big institution,” he said. “We deliberately decided against established treatment standards because we thought this was medically justified. Fifteen years later, we stand by this decision.”

Researchers caution that focal therapy remains an evolving area of prostate cancer treatment, and long-term comparative outcomes continue to be studied. Still, physicians involved in electroporation research say larger observational datasets may help clarify how minimally invasive therapies fit alongside surgery, radiation, and other established treatment approaches.