Medical Imaging News

January 24, 2007

Radiation Therapy Combo Cures Prostate Cancer Long-Term

Seventy-four percent of men treated with a combination of radiation seed implants and external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for prostate cancer are cured of their disease 15 years following their treatment, according to a study released this month.

Physicians at the Seattle Prostate Institute investigated the impact of employing two different types of radiation therapy—seed implants and EBRT—on long-term biochemical relapse-free survival rates in patients with clinical Stages T1-T3 prostate cancer.

Doctors followed 232 men for 15 years. Patients had early-stage prostate cancer and received a course of EBRT followed by permanent seed implants a few weeks later. Of these patients, 65% had T2b-T3 disease, and the entire group had an average pre-treatment PSA of 15 ng/ml.

Titled, "15-Year biochemical relapse free survival in clinical Stage T1-T3 prostate cancer following combined external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy; Seattle experience," the study was published in the January 2007 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics (IJROBP), aka the Red Journal. IJROBP is the the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

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