Higher Dose Of Radiation For Prostate Cancer

A new study suggests that not only is high-dose radiation more effective at keeping prostate cancer at bay - it also appears just as safe.

Nearly 400 men were studied over five years. Eighty-percent of the men treated with high-dose radiation were able to keep their PSA levels low, compared to 61-percent of men receiving a standard dose.

And the high-dose radiation helped without causing serious damage to healthy tissue.

In the high-dose-rate radiation treatment, a doctor inserts 12 to 20 catheters into the prostate gland, and seeds of radioactive iridium-192 are positioned in those catheters. Precise placement of the seeds is controlled by computer-assisted devices so they attack the cancer without causing unwanted side effects.

HDR therapy requires a two-day stay in the hospital, and then the catheters and the radiation supply are removed.

The treatment not only appears to work as well as other treatments, but it is also less expensive and may result in fewer side effects. The treatment might have fewer side effects than the seed-implantation procedure, in which dozens of tiny "seeds" of radioactive iodine are inserted into the prostate and left there permanently.


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