Preliminary results show that a shortened course of radiation treatment for prostate cancer called stereotactic body radiation treatment (SBRT) provides good PSA response for early-stage prostate cancer and has the same side effects as other therapys, as per a March 15 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Study authors caution that further follow-up will be necessary to establish that SBRT is as effective in the long term as other proven therapys.

Radiation treatment is an effective way to treat localized prostate cancer. Proven successful therapys include brachytherapy (seed implants) where radiation sources are placed directly into the prostate and external beam radiation treatment where doctors give small daily doses of radiation to the prostate, five days a week, for eight weeks to give enough radiation to kill the cancer cells while sparing nearby healthy tissue.

External beam radiation treatment can be a very effective and minimally invasive therapy. However, the length of therapy can be burdensome for some patients, especially those who live very far from a therapy facility. Doctors have been investigating ways to shorten the course of the therapy through a technique called stereotactic body radiation treatment, where radiation oncologists give a higher dose of radiation every day for five days. Growing biologic evidence also suggests that delivering radiotherapy in this fashion might be more effective for prostate cancer than conventionally protracted courses.

In this study, scientists from Stanford University treated 41 men with low-risk prostate cancer with SBRT. After a median follow-up of 33 months, no man in the study has seen his cancer return. Men in the study reported side effects, including urinary and rectal problems that were no better or worse than with other prostate cancer radiation therapys.

"There is great enthusiasm in reducing the length of therapy for prostate cancer while also possibly improving its effectiveness, and these early results are very promising for men with early-stage prostate cancer," Christopher King, Ph.D., M.D., an associate professor of radiation oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif., said. "However, it can often take as long as 10 years to see late side effects and recurrences, so we will have to monitor these men closely and cautiously pursue these therapys further before we can confidently say that SBRT is as good as other proven prostate cancer therapys, like external beam radiation treatment, brachytherapy or surgery".


Posted by: Andria    Source

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