What is prostate brachytherapy and how effective is it?
The term brachytherapy literally means ”close-up” therapy. In this case, radioactive seeds are deposited into the prostate during an outpatient visit. According to published studies, brachytherapy has an overall (including both low-and-high risk patients) 70% cure rate after 12 years, with few complications or side effects reported. (In low-risk patients with the cancer still confined to the prostate, the cure rate using brachytherapy in 90 – 100% The overall brachytherapy cure rate surpasses the ten-year cure rate of 59% reported by studies that followed up radical surgery patients. Its cure rate also compares favorably to the inconclusive results for patients treated with external beam radiation.
