Brachytherapy offers high 8-year prostate Ca survival rates

More than 90% of men who receive appropriate radiation dose levels with permanent radiation seed implants to treat their prostate cancer are cured of the disease 8 years after diagnosis, according to a recent study in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (2007; 67:327-33).

Physicians in the study evaluated the long-term results of permanent seed implants in men with early-stage prostate cancer. Nearly 2,700 men with T1-T2 disease were studied at 11 U.S. institutions over 8 years. The patients received the seed implants as the sole treatment for prostate cancer with no additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

The 8-year PSA relapse-free survival was 92%, 86%, 79%, and 67%, respectively, for patients with PSA nadir values of 0-0.49, 0.5-0.99, 1.0-1.99, and >2.0 ng/mL (p< 0.001), reported the researchers, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Among patients free of biochemical relapse at 8 years, the median nadir level was 0.1 ng/mL, and 90% of these patients achieved a nadir PSA level <0.6 ng/mL.

"This study is exciting because it shows that brachytherapy alone without additional surgery, radiation, or drugs can be effective at curing early-stage prostate cancer," said lead author Michael J. Zelefsky, MD. "These results also confirm other findings that the quality of the seed implant is a critical ingredient for achieving a better outcome."