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Prostate
Cancer Patients disease free after five
years likely to be disease free after 10
years
Newswise — Prostate cancer patients who
receive brachytherapy and remain free of
disease for five years or greater are
unlikely to have a recurrence at 10 years,
according to a 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 upon the cancer.
In the study, researchers at The Mount Sinai
Medical Center Departments of Radiation
Oncology and Urology in New York followed
742 prostate cancer patients who were
treated with brachytherapy alone,
brachytherapy and hormonal therapy, 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 found
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 treatment are continuing and that these
will continue to have an effect on prostate
brachytherapy data for years to come,”
Richard Stock, M.D., lead 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 therapy
and/or EBRT an increasingly attractive
treatment option.”
ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology
society in the world, with more than 10,000
members who specialize in treating patients
with radiation therapies.
As the leading organization in radiation
oncology, biology and physics, the Society
is dedicated to improving patient care
through education, clinical practice,
advancement of science and advocacy.
For more information on radiation therapy,
visit
www.rtanswers.org.
To learn more about ASTRO, visit
www.astro.org.
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