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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Radiation Therapy Combo Cures Prostate Cancer
Long-Term
Author says it's 'good news' since radiation
therapy is less invasive, spares healthy tissue, faster recovery than
surgery
 January 4, 2007 - Seventy-four percent of men
treated with a combination of radiation seed implants and external beam
radiation therapy for prostate cancer are cured of their disease 15
years following their treatment, according to a study released today in
the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the
official journal of ASTRO.
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This study was conducted by the physicians at the
Seattle Prostate Institute. Doctors wanted to look at the combination of
seed implants and external beam radiation therapy, two different types
of radiation therapy, to prolong the long-term disease cure rates for
prostate cancer.
Over the course of 15 years, doctors followed 232
men with early-stage prostate cancer who received a course of external
beam radiation therapy followed by permanent seed implants a few weeks
later. Sixty-five percent of these patients had T2b-T3 disease and the
entire group had an average pre-treatment PSA of 15 ng/ml.
Seed implants, also called brachytherapy, are small
radioactive pellets, each about the size of a grain of rice. The seeds
are inserted into the prostate through small needles during a brief
outpatient procedure. External beam radiation therapy involves a series
of 25 short daily outpatient treatments, where a radiation oncologist
precisely directs high energy radiation beams to kill cancer cells.
This study is exciting because it shows that the
combination of brachytherapy and external beam therapy are successful
long-term at curing men of their prostate cancer, said John E.
Sylvester, M.D., lead author of the study and the Director of the
Seattle Prostate Institute in Seattle.
This is good news for men with prostate cancer
since radiation therapy is less invasive, spares healthy tissue and
helps patients return to regular activities sooner than surgery.
Editor's Notes:
For more information about prostate cancer
treatment options, please visit
http://www.rtanswers.org.
About Source:
American Society for Therapeutic
Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation
oncology society in the world, with more than 8,500 members who
specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading
organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is
dedicated to the advancement of the practice of radiation oncology by
promoting excellence in patient care, providing opportunities for
educational and professional development, promoting research and
disseminating research results and representing radiation oncology in a
rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare environment.
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