My brother has prostate cancer. Anyhone know about seed containing radiation to treat it?

Question

He is in stage 1, 55 years ols, and is considering this instead of an operation to remove it. Anyone know any stats on this procedure?

Answer 1

There is a lot of information out there on the net. . .this is just some things I found - beginning with what the "seed radiation" is:

Brachytherapy, also known as prostate seed implantation or radioactive seed implantation involves placing tiny radioactive pellets ("seeds") directly inside the prostate tumor. Low-dose seeds are implanted permanently and give off radiation for several months before losing their radioactivity. High-dose, or high-energy, seeds are implanted for less than a day and deliver a concentrated dose of radiation to the tumor.

Men whose cancer is confined to the prostate gland are the candidates for this type of treatment

When you do your search - try using the search keywords like: prognosis of brachytherapy. A good website to go to is the National Cancer Institute.

Answer 2

I assume you're referring to some sort of implant that directs medication right to the tumor rather than treatment being given orally/intravenously?

If this is the case, the benefits would be possible reduced side effects since the tumor is being targeted directly - not the entire body.

I don't know the stats, but the principle for treatment is a sound one.

Answer 3

I haven't heard of the treatment you mentioned, but I have heard that progesterone balancing creams can prevent the cancer from metastisizing to other parts of the body. If you do try this, be sure to get a cream that doesn't contain any other ingredients (black cohosh, rose hips, etc) that may affect horomones.

Answer 4

I have heard it works better than the old treatments of radiation, drugs, etc. I wish this had been around when my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My dad was on Lupron ( a very expensive hormonal drug).