Prostate Treatment With Low Side Effects

U.S. men receiving a type of radiation therapy to combat early-stage prostate cancer did not suffer some distressing side effects associated with radiation.

Researchers enrolled 98 men from 24 institutions and set out to gauge the health-related quality of life in patients receiving low-dose rate prostate brachytherapy — a form of internal radiation therapy in which tiny radioactive seeds are implanted directly into the prostate gland to battle the cancer.

Patients were given three separate health-related quality of life questionnaires a total of five times before, during and after undergoing radiation therapy to allow researchers to evaluate what effect their treatment was having on them. The two most important side effects studied were sexual and urinary function.

The study, published in International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, found 78 percent of the men were able to achieve an erection. The study also found the overall rate of incontinence was low at 1 percent, although some men did have difficulty urinating after one year of the treatment.