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Cancer Center provides Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer
October 17, 2003
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The Cancer Center is on the forefront of technology in treating prostate cancer. It has adopted a "real time" treatment planning system for prostate brachytherapy. Its full name is "transperineal ultrasound-guided prostate implant treatment planning system." Nationwide, only 10 to 15 percent of the hospitals are using this new technology, mostly on the east and west coasts. The new system is unique to our region. Hospitals in Joplin, Rolla and Poplar Bluff, Missouri are using it in addition to Heartland.
While prostate brachytherapy is widely used, the breakthrough is using a real-time ultrasound feed to map the exact size and location of the tumor at the time the radioactive seeds are implanted. This allows pinpoint placement of 50 to 130 seeds into the tumor. Dr. Blas Caroprese, a medical physicist, creates the treatment plan as the radiation oncologist, either Dr. Robert Johnson or Dr. Bonnie Goins, performs the implantation of the seeds. Real-time treatment planning greatly decreases the chances of misplacement of the seeds, reduces potential delays in treatment and reduces side-effects. Since February 19, nine of the procedures have been performed in surgery at Heartland.
This therapy can be used as a stand-alone therapy if the tumor is caught at an early stage. It can also be used in combination with external beam radiation therapy and hormone therapy for more advanced cases. During 2001, over 180,000 men were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States. A man has a one in six chance of developing prostate cancer during his lifetime. It most often affects men over age 65. Prostate cancer has a "silent" progression. In its early stages it is hard to detect because it typically exhibits no symptoms and those symptoms that do appear can be easily mistaken for benign conditions.
The good news is that if prostate cancer is detected in its earliest stages, the five-year survival rate with the brachytherapy procedure is nearly 100 percent. Annual Prostate Specific Antigen blood tests and physical check-ups are recommended for all men over age 50 and, for men at high risk, at age 45. "High risk" patients include African-Americans and those with a family history of prostate cancer. For more information please call the Cancer Center at (816) 271-7280.
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