Prostate Cancer Blog:  From MedicineWorld.org, July 4, 2009

Patients with prostate cancer who receive brachytherapy and remain free of disease for five years or greater are unlikely to have a recurrence at 10 years, as per a research study in the July 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

brachytherapy is the placement of radioactive sources in or just next to a tumor either permanently or temporarily, depending on the cancer.

In the study, scientists at The Mount Sinai Medical Center of Radiation Oncology and Urology in New York followed 742 patients with prostate cancer who were treated with brachytherapy alone, brachytherapy and hormonal treatment, or combined brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) between 1991 and 2002.  None of these patients had recurred during their first five years post-treatment.  They observed that the PSA level taken at five years was an indicator of how well a patient would do in the future and the overall chance of being cancer free at 10 years was 97 percent.

Also, none of the study participants developed metastatic disease or died from prostate cancer.

“Our data have indicated that improvements in therapy are continuing and that these will continue to have an effect on prostate brachytherapy data for years to come,” Richard Stock, M.D., main author of the study and chairman of radiation oncology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, said.  “Late failure rates will continue to decrease, making prostate brachytherapy alone and combined with hormonal treatment and/or EBRT an increasingly attractive therapy option.”