The Prostate Clinic (TPC) in Lagos, led by Professor Kingsley Ekwueme, has pioneered High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for prostate cancer treatment, positioning Nigeria as the first nation in West and Central Africa to deploy the breakthrough technology.
Professor Ekwueme, a pioneering Nigerian Urological and Robotic Surgeon, described the breakthrough as “small but mighty,” underscoring its transformative potential for men across the region.
Speaking after unveiling the technology, Prof. Ekwueme told journalists: “We are the first Sinabkate HIFU in Africa. What you have here, I can summarise it as small but mighty. You’ve got a high intensity focused ultrasound scan that can deliver ultrasound energy into the prostate and kill prostate cancer specifically that has been identified within the prostate.”
The HIFU system is fully automated and powered by artificial intelligence. Once the cancer location is identified and fed into the machine, treatment is delivered with a single click. Prof. Ekwueme explained: “With this mouse, as everybody has in their computer system in their homes, you just click it, one click of a button, the treatment will be delivered to the prostate. You just sit back and you just watch it happen. The cancer will be eradicated.”
The system provides real-time feedback, displaying colour changes on the screen to confirm when the cancer has been completely destroyed. Once the procedure is complete, the machine switches itself off, leaving the patient cured.
No cuts, no pain, no hospital stay
The innovation is remarkable not only for its precision but also for its simplicity and patient comfort. Unlike traditional surgery, HIFU requires no incisions, causes no pain, and allows patients to return home the same day.
Prof. Ekwueme emphasized: “There is no cut on the patient. No pain. You go home same day after this operation. You can have it in the morning and the evening, you are back home in your house enjoying yourself.”
This minimally invasive approach represents a dramatic improvement over conventional treatments, which often involve prolonged hospital stays, significant discomfort, and long recovery periods.
Nigeria faces a particularly urgent challenge in prostate cancer care. Prof. Ekwueme noted that hereditary prostate cancer in Nigeria tends to develop seven years earlier than in the general population. This means younger men, some yet to father children, are increasingly presenting with the disease. The HIFU technology offers hope for these patients, enabling complete eradication of cancer while preserving fertility.
“The prostate remains intact, erection 100 percent and the patient will be able to ejaculate, which means you can father a child in the natural way. There is no urine leak and no pain. And that is why this machine is fantastic,” he said.
Focal Therapy: Targeted, intelligent, effective
The HIFU system represents a new era of focal therapy, targeting only the cancerous portion of the prostate while leaving the rest of the gland untouched.
Prof. Ekwueme explained: “The machine is so intelligent. It will generate all the prostate images. And then you mark out where the cancers are and you tell the machine and the machine accepts it and treats the place. The man goes home. This is amazing because you don’t have to remove the whole prostate.”
This precision eliminates the devastating side effects often associated with prostate cancer treatment, such as urine leakage, erectile dysfunction, and loss of ejaculation. “All these side effects, zero with this machine. You keep your erection. You will be able to ejaculate, no urine leak, no pain. You go home same day,” he added.
Christmas gift to Nigerians
Prof. Ekwueme described the unveiling of HIFU as his “Christmas present to Nigeria.” His words carried palpable joy as he reflected on years of effort to bring the technology home. “I feel that our country has been left behind in fast developing medical treatments, especially when it comes to cancer. This is very important to me because I decided to come home to bring robotic surgery several months ago, because I wanted to make a difference. I thought that our country deserves to have the best of treatments. And that’s why I came.”
Changing the face of surgery in Nigeria
This latest milestone follows two earlier breakthroughs introduced by Prof. Ekwueme this year: robotic surgery and the Eurolift procedure for enlarged prostate. Together, these innovations mark a radical transformation in Nigeria’s surgical landscape. “My intention is to change surgery in Nigeria forever. I do not want any man in Nigeria to receive treatment that is substandard. I want them to be able to afford to have first class treatment, like I give to my patients in UK. I want them to have it here,” he declared.
The introduction of HIFU has also been accompanied by intensive training for Nigerian medical staff, ensuring that the technology can be safely and effectively deployed across the country. Prof. Ekwueme expressed hope that this would encourage Nigerians abroad to return home, confident that world-class treatment is now available locally.
New dawn for prostate cancer care
Prostate cancer remains the most common cancer among men, but with the arrival of HIFU in Nigeria, the outlook has changed dramatically. Patients no longer need to travel abroad for advanced treatment. They can now access cutting-edge, pain-free, fertility-preserving therapy within their own country.
Prof. Ekwueme’s words capture the magnitude of this achievement, “We have to be able to treat it here. And so this is the third of the first that we have done this year. After the robot, then the Eurolift for enlarged prostate, now we are taking Nigeria to a completely different path of focal therapy for prostate cancer.”
The Prostate Clinic (TPC) has positioned Nigeria at the forefront of medical progress, introducing globally validated prostate cancer therapy and ensuring world-class treatment is now available to Nigerian patients at home.
- Media Report