Brachytherapy Overview | Why Brachytherapy? | Procedure Step by Step | Quality Assurance | ProQura

Brachytherapy/BrachySurgery Overview

Permanent seed implantation (brachytherapy or brachysurgery) for prostate cancer is a cancer treatment that uses small tubes (seeds) of temporary radiation to destroy cancer cells. If  radioactive (I-125, Pd 103, or Cesium 131) material is used , it is called permanent seed implantation.  In this setting, a small amount of radioactive material is placed into small titanium tubes (seeds) ,the size of a grain of rice and the seeds are positioned into the prostate in a carefully planned fashion. The radiation from the seeds is given up over a short period of time, causing the cancer cells to be unable to divide and eventually die. The term brachytherapy means short therapy in Greek. A high dose of radiation is delivered to the tumor; a much higher dose than other forms of external radiation such as IMRT or Protons. Radiation kills the tumor by affecting the DNA within the cancer cell. When the cancer cell attempts to divide and reproduce itself, it is unable to do so because the DNA is no longer intact. As a result, the prostate cancer dies.

Brachytherapy/BrachySurgery  to treat prostate cancer began in the early 1900s. In fact, in 1906, Alexander Graham Bell suggested that a small amount of radioactive material could be placed into tumors. In 1916, the first prostate brachytherapy procedure was performed. Over the past twenty years, technology has resulted in dramatic advancements in prostate brachytherapy resulting in a sophisticated surgical procedure brachysurgery . Improved ultrasound equipment and MRI imaging are used to visualize the prostate and precisely guide placement of radioactive seeds, which allows for the delivery of a very high dose of radiation to the prostate, while minimizing the dose to the surrounding normal body organs such as the bladder and rectum. The primary advantage of brachysurgery  is that the treatment extends beyond the surgical margin of a robotic prostatectomy and will kill microscopic disease  which the surgery cannot reach. The recent development of computer systems along with multiparametric MRI imaging, fusion technology of MRI and ultrasound used at PCCS has allowed precises planning  brachysurgery to improve results. To date, brachytherapy or permanent seed implantation has demonstrated excellent cancer control rates and low complications for all stages of prostate cancer and thus has become very popular as a treatment option for patients.