A church treasurer has become one of the first patients in the world to be cured of prostate cancer in pioneering ultrasound treatment.

Robert Page of Woodcote Valley Road, Purley, was one of 41 men who participated in a clinical trial which used sound waves to selectively treat individual sites of cancer.

The treatment can be completed in a one-off visit to hospital and proved itself to be a promising alternative to traditional treatment, with the results showing patients suffered significantly fewer side effects.

Mr Page said he was having regular prostate examinations when the prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in his blood started to rise.

The 72-year-old who is treasurer at St Swinthuns Church, Purley, said: "I went to the consultant privately and he referred me to the Royal Marsden Hospital and to the consultant at University College Hospital because there were different options.

"I had the choice between surgery and radiotherapy or a new option, the ultrasound treatment.

"The attraction of the ultrasound treatment was that it was totally new. They have used similar procedures in the past where they blasted the whole prostate, but this was totally focused on the particular area needing treatment.

"It was experimental, but I liked that you could always go back to the other treatments."

Each year about 37,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK each year, with the disease killing about 10,000 men annually.

The study which was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), used an experimental treatment called high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat areas of cancer as small as few millimetres in size.

The heat of the sound waves effectively boils cancerous cells to death, killing tumours while doing minimal damage to the surrounding tissue.

The results published in Lancet Oncology, showed 12 months after treatment the vast majority of patients - 95 percent- were free of cancer, with none of the 41 men suffering incontinence and just one in 10 suffering impotence.

Three years after having his treatment Mr Page remains cancer free.

He said: "From my point of view it was extremely successful, the experience was very good. I have had no recurrence and there weren't any side effects.

"It was one session and done under anaesthetic with no incision. The diagnostic checks beforehand were more invasive, I had a MRI scan and a biopsy which involved taking several samples.

"The important thing is it relies on an early diagnosis, you have to catch the tumour at an early stage, which is why regular PSA checks are important."

Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study said the results were very encouraging, but further research was needed.

He said: "We are optimistic men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects.

"That could mean a significant improvement in their quality of life."