Radiation Seeds, Effective Against Prostate Cancer in Young Men
According to a new study, brachytherapy (radiation seed implants) are just as effective at curing prostate cancer in younger men (aged 60 and younger) as they are in older men.
Brachytherapy is a minimally invasive procedure where a radiation oncologist places small radioactive seeds into the prostate in order to kill the cancer cells.
It is an attractive treatment option for patients with prostate cancer because it has a much shorter recovery time than surgery and studies have shown brachytherapy to be just as effective as surgery.
Normal practice of surgeons have always been to advice younger men to undergo surgery to remove all or part of the prostate (prostatectomy) over other treatments like seed implants because they believed younger men could physically tolerate surgery, plus they believed surgery was more effective than brachytherapy at curing prostate cancer long term.
Thereby meaning that many younger men would undergo surgery without ever learning about other treatment options, like brachytherapy or external beam radiation therapy.
According to Alice Ho, M.D., the lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York:
“These results suggest that brachytherapy is extremely effective in curing localized prostate cancer for men aged 60 and younger.
When younger men are diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, they should be presented with all viable treatment options, including brachytherapy.
Every man with prostate cancer, regardless of his age, should have access to the treatment that is best for his cancer and lifestyle.”
Find more details from ASTRO (a pdf file).
Tags: brachytherapy, prostate-cancer, prostatectomy, radiation-seed-implantsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Prostate & testicular cancer, ~ Anti-cancer treatments ~, ~ Diagnosing cancer ~
1 opinion for Radiation Seeds, Effective Against Prostate Cancer in Young Men
David M. Mahala
Jul 14, 2008 at 4:22 am
I underwent “Brachytherapy” as I was turning 51 yrs. old. Very small amount detected 5% in one quadrant out of six, and yes my doctor tried to steer me towards removal. My question is
dose seed therapy bring on or cause men to have ED in later years. Oh I’ll be 55 in a few months, my PSA is still droping, my last reading was .6 And for information I have 6 brothers, 3 of them have had their prostate’s removed ( very small amount of cancer ) one older and two younger, all doing well.
Dave
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