Brachytherapy Effective for Recurrent Prostate Cancer

The study results were presented at the annual clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago (IL, USA).

The men in the study were initially treated with external beam radiation, thought to be a contraindication to brachytherapy because the combination might cause too many side effects. However, only 10% of the men had hematuria, a transient side effect; 35% had symptoms of an irritable bladder, and 25% of those potent prior to brachytherapy had erectile dysfunction, all rates that are similar to those for men who have brachytherapy as initial treatment. Only one complication, urinary obstruction, occurred in more than half of the men but resolved spontaneously. What is most important, 70% of the men were free of prostate cancer after four years of followup.

"We were able to bring down the prostate specific antigen (PSA) level to normal in these men, so the use of brachytherapy produced good control of the disease,” said Robert E. Weiss, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (New Brunswick, NJ, USA).

The researchers cautioned that brachytherapy must be studied further before definitive conclusions can be made about its effectiveness and tolerability after external beam radiation.




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