Radiation therapy combination prolongs long-term cure rate in men with PCa

Three-fourths of men treated with a combination of radiation seed implants and external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer are cured of their disease 15 years following their treatment, according to a study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics (2007; 67:57-64).

Over the course of 15 years, researchers at the Seattle Prostate Institute followed 232 men with early-stage prostate cancer who received a course of external beam radiation therapy followed by permanent seed implants a few weeks later. Sixty-five percent of these patients had T2b-T3 disease, and the entire group had an average pre-treatment PSA of 15.0 ng/mL.

Fifteen-year biochemical relapse-free survival (BRFS) for the entire treatment group was 74%. BRFS using the Memorial Sloan-Kettering risk cohort analysis (95% confidence interval) was low-risk, 88%; intermediate-risk, 80%; and high-risk, 53%.

"This study is exciting because it shows that the combination of brachytherapy and external beam therapy are successful long-term at curing men of their prostate cancer," said lead author John E. Sylvester, MD, of the Seattle Prostate Institute. "This is good news for men with prostate cancer since radiation therapy is less invasive, spares healthy tissue, and helps patients return to regular activities sooner than surgery."