Prostate cancer patients disease
free after five years likely to remain disease free after 10 years
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).
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."
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