PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT
A new study out of the American Urological Association meeting shows not only do patients have a high likelihood of long term survival if prostate cancer is caught early, but also that they can have a high quality of life with no lasting ill effects.
Aside from skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. And because men live longer, and are healthy later in life, many want to have a procedure that will not only treat the prostate cancer but will also allow them to enjoy a high quality of life.
Now, research shows radioactive seeds might be the best choice.
Ten years ago, when Donald Pemberton was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he chose to get radioactive seeds rather than the traditional prostate removal surgery.
The main reason was what happens to patients after the operation… especially after learning they have cancer. According to Dr. Nelson N. Stone, urologist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York, “Then they’re also told not only do we have to treat this cancer, but they’re told that they won’t have control of urine, won’t be able to have a relationship with their spouse. That’s very devastating. What this paper and what this study shows, is that doesn’t need to happen.”
Donald says, “In the case of radiation seeding you don’t even know you have it in you.”
Nelson’s study shows in terms of quality of life, men who choose radioactive seeds, a procedure termed brachytherapy, do very well. The procedure involves placing little radioactive pieces, the size of grains of rice, into the prostate. The radiation kills the prostate cancer from within, without exposing normal tissue to the radiation.
A major study last year showed similar cure rates with seeds as compared to surgery. In fact, today, because of screening, 75% of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer have localized disease that has not spread beyond the prostate. Choosing either surgery or seeds will provide a 90% or better chance of long term survival. But it’s the quality of life upon which Stone was focusing. “This is the first study to present long term quality of life data to men who have had radioactive seed implantation,” reports Dr. Stone.
The study found that of the 225 patients followed, less than 3% reported minor stress incontinence, 70% of those who had normal potency before the operation remained potent, and less than 1% had any bleeding complications four years later. “It’s wonderful news for patients who are looking for treatments for prostate cancer,” comments Dr. Stone.
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Ten years later, Donald’s faith in the procedure paid off. “Certainly I fall in what’s called an excellent rating of success it’s like I never had cancer at all. I look forward to another ten or twelve years hopefully.”
Dr. Stone recommends to his patients to look at all the options for treating prostate cancer. Each patient is different, needs are different, and surgery might be appropriate for some patients. But he says, given the similar cure rates, it’s hard to ignore the procedure that has fewer long term side effects.