Prostate Cancer
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Benefits and drawbacks of specific approaches
Permanent source prostate brachytherapy (seed implant)
Permanent source prostate brachytherapy (prostate seed implant) represents another powerful radiation dose escalation method, which has also produced impressive long-term disease-free survival (7, 8). Another huge advantage of this method is its ability to be delivered in a single outpatient procedure.
The major drawback of permanent source prostate brachytherapy is the potential for long-term morbidity, particularly affecting the urinary tract, with at least one study identifying brachytherapy as having inferior long-term urinary and sexual quality of life outcomes compared with 3DCRT or RP (18), though other studies have not found this to be the case (19).
Although most permanent source brachytherapy patients do not experience permanent urinary tract toxicity, it is not uncommon for them to be symptomatic for a year or more, before their final recovery (20).
Written by Donald B. Fuller, M.D. – Radiation Oncologist