RADIOACTIVE IMPLANTS OFFER IMPROVED PROSTATE CANCER SURVIVAL

Trial: Implanted Radioactive "Seeds" Double Survival Rates When Measured Against High-Dose Radiotherapy

A Canadian study has shown that a treatment for prostrate cancer using permanently implanted radioactive “seeds” doubles rates of five-year tumor-free survival when compared with current high-dose radiotherapy. Researchers at the Vancouver Cancer Centre, Canada, studied 398 men with cancer that had not progressed outside the prostate, who were deemed to be at high risk of treatment failure according to standard test results. The treatment known as low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy (LDR-PB) involves the surgical insertion of tiny radioactive implants into the prostate gland. A trial comparing the treatment with dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy, discovered that it was far more successful at eradicating cancer. It was found that men who received LDR-PB were two times as likely to be free of cancer five years later.

Professor James Morris, the lead researcher on the study, said: “At five years follow-up, we saw a large advantage in progression-free survival in the LDR-PB group. Although, to date, overall survival and prostate cancer-specific survival do not appear to differ between the two groups, existing trends favour LDR-PB and an overall survival advantage is likely to emerge with longer follow-up.” Further research is required to compare the treatment with temporary high-dose brachytherapy implants and other types of radiotherapy.