What Are The Benefits And Side Effects Of Prostate Seed Implantation
Unlike major surgery, daily radiation treatments, or external beam radiation therapy, seed implantation:
- Causes little interruption in your daily activities.
- Usually preserves continence.
- Less frequently causes erectile dysfunction.
The radiation can cause side effects, which may last for two to 12 months after the implant and will decrease gradually as the seeds lose their radioactivity.
Side effects, all of which are treatable, may include:
- Discomfort during urination
Permanent Seed Brachytherapy For Prostate Cancer
Permanent seed brachytherapy is when your doctor puts very small radioactive metal seeds into your prostate gland. The seeds slowly release a low level of radiation into the area of the prostate over a few months. It is a type of internal radiotherapy.
With brachytherapy, your doctor puts the radioactive source or seeds as close to the cancer as possible. So that the cancer gets a high dose but nearby tissues and further away the levels of radiation are low.
What Should You Ask Your Doctor About Treatments
The American Cancer Society recommends that you ask questions like these:
- What treatment might be best for me?
- What are the possible benefits of getting it?
- How soon would I need to start treatment?
- Will I need to get surgery as part of my treatment? If so, what will it be like and who will do it?
- Will I need other treatments, too? If so, how might they benefit me?
- What side effects could my treatments cause? And what should I do if I get them?
- Is there a clinical trial that might be a good option for me?
- Can you review any vitamins or diet Iââ¬â¢m on to make sure it wonââ¬â¢t interfere with my cancer treatment?
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Success Rates And Side Effects
Treatment success rates for prostate cancer brachytherapy have been excellent, especially for men diagnosed with an early stage of the disease, for which survival rates are generally comparable to those produced by prostate surgery. In addition, the new intraoperative computer-based conformal optimization approach, and the enhanced precision it allows, reduces the likelihood of both urinary and rectal side effects when compared to external beam radiation. Another benefit of treating prostate cancer with brachytherapy is that the time commitment required to perform it is dramatically less than that required for external beam radiation, which is usually delivered in about 50 sessions over the course of ten weeks.
We are one of a few institutions in the world using this particular intraoperative CT scanning device on a regular basis to help us to optimize the quality and accuracy of the seed implant procedure, Dr. Zelefsky notes. We think it may be appropriate for many forms of brachytherapy, and we are exploring the use of these procedures to treat a variety of other cancers.
Who Can Have Permanent Seed Brachytherapy
On its own
Permanent seed brachytherapy on its own may be suitable for men with CPG 1 localised prostate cancer. This is because the radiation from the radioactive seeds doesnt travel very far, so will only treat cancer that is still inside the prostate.
It may also be suitable for some men whose cancer have a CPG 2 or CPG 3 of spreading.
With other treatments
If you have CPG 4 or CPG 5 localised prostate cancer, you may have brachytherapy together with external beam radiotherapy and hormone therapy. This is sometimes called a brachytherapy boost. Having these other treatments at the same time as permanent seed brachytherapy can help make the treatment more effective. But it can also increase the risk of side effects.
Some men with intermediate risk localised prostate cancer or locally advanced prostate cancer may be offered a brachytherapy boost.
When is permanent seed brachytherapy not suitable?
Permanent seed brachytherapy wont be suitable if your cancer has spread to other parts of your body .
It may not be suitable if you have a very large prostate. If you do have a large prostate you may be able to have hormone therapy before treatment to shrink your prostate.
Not all hospitals offer permanent seed brachytherapy. If your hospital doesnt do it, your doctor may refer you to one that does.
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I Am From Out Of Town How Many Visits Would This Take
We see many patients from all over the country. Normally two to three visits are needed. We try to coordinate as many appointments as possible. Our out of town patients continue to send their friends and family so we are very accustomed to working with patients throughout Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, and beyond. On the day of implant, we do recommend an overnight hotel stay to ensure a normal flow to urination before returning home. No hospital stay is required due to the nature of this minimally invasive same day procedure.
Case For Combined Treatment
For treatment to be effective in patients who have more aggressive or advanced stages of prostate cancer, it must be directed at both the prostate and the surrounding areas where cancer cells may have spread. To accomplish this, a seed implant is typically combined with a few weeks of IGRT and/or a temporary hormone blocking medicine.
The seed implant delivers a high dose of radiation to the prostate, where most or all of the cancer cells reside. The IGRT not only treats the cancer in the prostate, it also attacks cancer cells that may have spread outside the prostate.
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Side Effects Are Part Of All Types Of Prostate Radiotherapy
A common misconception among prospective patients is that prostate implantation has fewer side effects than external beam radiation therapy. Nearly all patients suffer from some urethritis . Urinary retention requiring a temporary catheter occurs in 5% of patients.
To learn more about prostate seed implantation to treat prostate cancer, or to schedule a consultation, call . You can also reach us using our easy online form.
After The Implant Surgery
Most patients are discharged three to four hours after the implant procedure. Occasionally, a patient may need to be observed in the hospital until the next day. Your urologist will determine when you will be discharged from the hospital.
You will be given specific instructions about your implant. Keep these instructions so you can share them with your family members or with any doctors you see after your implant. The instructions will answer any questions you may have about radiation exposure to your family and friends after the implant. They are the same precautions that the radiation oncologist discussed with you.
There is little discomfort after the implant. Some patients do experience mild soreness when they sit. This soreness may last for one or two days after the implant. Sometimes, a patient will notice small spots of blood on his underwear after the procedure. This comes from the spot where the needles were inserted and should stop within 24 hours. Applying mild pressure with a clean cloth will stop the spotting. You may notice a small amount of blood in your urine. This is normal and should stop within one to two days after the implant. If the blood in your urine lasts more then two days, or if you see clots, call your urologist.
You should avoid heavy lifting or hard, physical activity for the first two days that you are home. After that time, you may return to your normal activity level.
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What Should I Expect From The Procedure
Prostate Seed Implant procedures are done under general anesthesia and the procedure takes about 1 hour to perform. Patients are treated in a same day, outpatient setting. The side effects are similar to that experienced from the prostate biopsy. Because patients are under anesthesia, most patients report the Prostate Seed Implant procedure to be easier than the biopsy.
The validity and accuracy of the implant is verified during the procedure with intra-operative real time image guided planning. This is where experience matters and with over 3000 cases in the last 20 years it is no wonder our patients do great and keep sending their personal friends and family.
Word of mouth is one of our greatest referrals as well as the consistent support we get from our medical community.
What Happens After Treatment
If you’ve been treated, especially if a surgeon removed your prostate, your PSA levels should start to go down. Doctors usually wait several weeks after surgery before checking PSA levels.
A rise in PSA after treatment may suggest the cancer is back or spreading. In that case, your doctor may order the same tests used to diagnose the original cancer, including a CT scan, MRI, or bone scan. The radiotracer Axumin could be used along with a PET scan to help detect and localize any recurrent cancer.
Though very rare, it’s possible to have metastatic prostate cancer without a higher-than-normal PSA level.
Go to all of your follow-up doctor appointments. At these checkups, let your doctor know about any symptoms youââ¬â¢re having, especially ones like bone pain or blood in your pee. You could keep track of your symptoms by writing them down in a journal or diary.
At home, follow some healthy habits to feel your best:
Eat a balanced diet. It can boost your energy and your immune system. Fill your plate with fruits and vegetables and high-fiber foods. Cut back on fattening foods, sugar, and processed foods and meats.
Let your doctor know if youââ¬â¢re having trouble staying at a healthy weight or if youââ¬â¢re losing your appetite.
Get exercise if your doctor OKs it. It can be good for your body and mind. It can also help you stay at a healthy weight, keep up your strength, and help manage medication side effects.
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How Does Prostate Cancer Spread
Cancer cells sometimes break away from the original tumor and go to a blood or lymph vessel. Once there, they move through your body. The cells stop in capillaries — tiny blood vessels — at some distant location.
The cells then break through the wall of the blood vessel and attach to whatever tissue they find. They multiply and grow new blood vessels to bring nutrients to the new tumor. Prostate cancer prefers to grow in specific areas, such as lymph nodes or in the ribs, pelvic bones, and spine.
Most breakaway cancer cells form new tumors. Many others don’t survive in the bloodstream. Some die at the site of the new tissue. Others may lie inactive for years or never become active.
Why Choose Memorial Sloan Kettering For Brachytherapy
Memorial Sloan Kettering has long been a leader in brachytherapy, pioneering many advances in the field. In fact, MSK doctors were the first to use brachytherapy to treat cancers in the early 20th century.
That expertise continues today, as our medical physicists work with radiation oncologists to design the safest, most precise way to administer the brachytherapy using mathematical modeling and advanced computer programs. Through this collaboration, MSK specialists have developed highly specialized brachytherapy methods for specific diseases.
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How Long Does It Take To Recover From Radiation Treatment
Theres no doubt radiation therapy can make the difference between life and death for cancer patients, but unfortunately it often comes at a cost.
Radiation therapy is associated with harsh side effects, many of which dont emerge until months or years after treatment. Acute side effects occur and disappear within 14 days of treatment, but long-term effects like bone degeneration, skin ulcers, and bladder irritation take much longer to manifest.
The complications of radiation therapy are frustrating, painful, and often embarrassing, but using ongoing therapy, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy , can accelerate your radiation therapy recovery in a natural way and stop your symptoms from defining your quality of life.
How Is The Radioactive Seed Inserted
Using a mammogram as guidance, a radiologist places one seed, so tiny it can be safely injected with a needle, inside the tumour. It emits a very small amount of radiation that is picked up in the operating room with a small, handheld Geiger counter. After the piece of breast tissue with the radioactive seed is removed, the seed is separated from the tissue and appropriately disposed of, with every seed being accounted for.
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Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Do You Really Know All Your Treatment Options
The American Brachytherapy Society finds many men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer are not presented with a highly effective minimally invasive treatment option: Prostate Brachytherapy Seed Implants.
We live in an era of information overload, frequently confusing and contradictory. The challenge and difficult task of evaluating and understanding available treatment options for prostate cancer is not immune to this quandary.
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind lung cancer. About 1 man in 9 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates about 164,690 men will be diagnosed and about 29,430 men will die from prostate cancer in the United States in 2018.1
Know Your Options: Prostate Brachytherapy is one of the most effective treatment options for prostate cancer
Prostate Brachytherapy Seed implants, also known as Low-dose-rate brachytherapy is a highly effective minimally invasive treatment for organ-confined prostate cancer. It can be offered as a single treatment for low-risk disease, or in conjunction with external beam radiotherapy and/or androgen-deprivation therapy for intermediate and high-risk disease.
Unfortunately, many men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer are never presented with Prostate Brachytherapy Seed implants as a treatment option and/or, more regrettably, presented with misinformation.
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Benefits Of The Treatment
- Each seed gives off radiation to a small surrounding area. By careful placement of the seeds, very high doses of radiation can be delivered to areas of the prostate affected by the cancer, and relatively little radiation is received by the normal tissues. These include the rectum which is directly behind the prostate gland, and the bladder which lies on top of the gland. This is the reason why the side effects of brachytherapy are moderate and well-tolerated.
- Convenience – usually as a day case on 2 separate occasions.
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Prostate Cancer: Radioactive Seed Implants
Radioactive seed implants are a form of radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, are also terms used to describe this procedure. There are two types of prostate brachytherapy: permanent and temporary.
Compared to external radiation, which requires five to eight weeks of daily treatments, convenience is a major advantage of brachytherapy.
What If You Have Metastatic Castration
This means you have a type of metastatic prostate cancer thatââ¬â¢s able to grow and spread after you had hormone therapy to lower your testosterone levels.
Still, most people with mCRPC stay on androgen deprivation therapy because it might still be effective against some prostate cancer cells.
Your doctor may recommend adding other treatments like:
- Treatments to ease symptoms like pain
You could also find out if a clinical trial might be right for you.
Some people with mCRPC simply choose to try active surveillance or watchful waiting.
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Seeds Vs Prostatectomy: Long
For men with prostate cancer, radiation seed implants may yield a better short-term side effect profile than surgery, but surgery may offer slightly better long-term outcomes, new research from French radiation oncologists indicates.
For men with prostate cancer, radiation seed implants may yield a better short-term side effect profile than surgery, but surgery may offer slightly better long-term outcomes, new research from French radiation oncologists indicates. The results were published in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics .
This comparative study of 435 men with early-stage prostate cancer measured male quality of life, treatment-specific side effects, and cost of treatment based on the type of treatment used: prostate brachytherapy or radical prostatectomy. Men were surveyed before and immediately after treatment, as well as at designated follow-up periods. Data were obtained from 11 French hospitals.
The findings indicated that surgery produced more immediate and significant side effects post-treatment, but those side effects subsided and actually improved after 2 years. With brachytherapy, although patients saw consistently moderate side effects, the side effects persisted over time. For those who received surgery, urinary incontinence and impaired sexual function were common side effects. Urinary irritation was more common in those receiving brachytherapy.
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Side Effects Of Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy causes the same types of side effects that external beam radiation therapy does, such as erectile dysfunction.
In some instances, side effects to the bowels may be less severe than those caused by EBRT. Side effects that impact the bladder, however, may be more severe.
High-dose brachytherapy may cause temporary pain and swelling. It may also cause your urine to look red or brown for a short period of time.
Brachytherapy presents with some risks that external beam radiation therapy does not. If you have permanent brachytherapy, you may emit radiation to others for several weeks or months. Your doctor may advise you to stay away from pregnant people and small children during this time.
Occasionally, the seeds may migrate away from their original placement. For this reason, you may also be instructed to wear condoms during sexual activity, to protect your partner.
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Ldr Brachytherapy: Prostate Seed Implants For Prostate Cancer
Prostate Seed Implants are a form of Low-Dose Radiation therapy. This minimally invasive procedure is one of the most common and effective ways to treat prostate cancer. Because this type of treatment is minimally invasive, you will have a shorter recovery time and be able to resume normal activities within a week.