What is stereotactic radiation therapy for prostate cancer? How does it compare to other treatments?

Prostate cancer is from Australia. Most commonly diagnosed Cancer One man in six He can be diagnosed by the age of 85.

Cancers are abnormal groups of cells that grow uncontrolled and start to invade neighboring sites. They can even spread to other parts of the body. These are often known as metastases.

Treatment of early disease, when the cancer is confined to the unique site, focuses on that single area, often with surgery or radiation therapy. Treatment of advanced disease, when it has spread, often relies on treatments that may travel throughout the body, akin to chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

A more advanced type of radiation therapy, called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, may have the opportunity to treat each early and advanced cancers. So how does it work? And how does it compare to current treatments?

It delivers more food to a smaller goal.

Stereotactic radiotherapy uses high doses of radiation to focus on and kill cancer cells. It uses recent machines that may deliver highly focused radiation beams. Combined with advances in imaging and radiation planning software, this permits physicians to “track” and goal cancers.

This ends in such high precision – with a goal accuracy of lower than 1mm – that cancer may be safely treated with minimal risk of harm to surrounding healthy organs.

Higher doses mean that radiotherapy may be delivered in fewer treatments (one to 5 sessions over one to 2 weeks) where previously it was divided into several smaller doses (20 to 40), spread over weeks or months. was also provided.

Stereotactic radiotherapy is increasingly getting used to treat cancer. The mind And Lungs. But recent data shows that it might probably also effectively treat prostate cancer.

What did the brand new study find?

Oh study A study published this month within the New England Journal of Medicine compared two groups of patients with early prostate cancer with a median age of 69.8 years. Half (433 participants) received five sessions of stereotactic radiation therapy, the opposite half (431 participants) received standard radiation therapy that included not less than 20 sessions.

The researchers found no long-term difference in outcomes between the groups, with 95 percent of patients showing no evidence of disease five years after treatment. These are treatment rates. Equivalent For patients who've had their prostate surgically removed.

Early evidence suggests that conventional radiation therapy appears to be simpler, less severe, and fewer invasive than currently available treatment options.

Prostate cancer that has spread beyond its original site, unfortunately, incurable In most situations. The goal of treatment for this stage of the disease is to suppress or control the cancer for so long as possible.

nonetheless, study have shown that stereotactic radiation therapy may be used to focus on disease that has spread to distant sites in patients with prostate cancer. Researchers found that stereotactic radiation therapy can keep patients freed from clinically evident disease for eight to 13 months, delaying the necessity for hormone therapy or chemotherapy.

How do negative effects compare to other cancer treatments?

Stereotactic radiation therapy is given day by day, with painless radiation beams. It is common to experience pain and/or swelling within the treated area within the weeks following delivery. It reaches a level where medication is required. One third of the cases.

Erectile function is usually affected during prostate cancer treatment, because the nerves and blood vessels liable for the erection are sometimes damaged.

Another one A recent study A comparison of stereotactic radiation therapy with surgery found that 48% of patients treated with stereotactic radiation therapy had problems with their sexual function two years after treatment, compared with 75% of patients who didn't. Surgery was done.

What are the prices? And who can access it?

new And More advanced Radiation therapy machines can provide more precise treatments, but they're dearer than standard machines. They even have more complex maintenance and operational requirements.

However, conventional radiotherapy machines will also be upgraded to supply stereotactic precision.

While the initial investment cost could also be high, the price profit Analyzes Stereotactic radiation therapy for lung cancer has been shown to cost the health system lower than other cancer treatments and traditional radiotherapy. This is partly since the treatment is accomplished in a short time. Formal cost-benefit analyzes for prostate cancer haven't been accomplished but are more likely to be similar.

Stereotactic radiation therapy is now widely available in major Australian public hospitals for a lot of kinds of cancer, including lung cancer, kidney cancer, advanced brain cancer and bone cancer. There isn't any out-of-pocket cost for patients. It can be provided in lots of private centers.

However, even when a middle can provide stereotactic radiation therapy, there is critical variability within the equipment used to deliver the therapy.

In addition, the actual planning and delivery of radiation therapy is a posh skill. study has shown that patients treated by physicians with higher caseloads have higher outcomes, as a consequence of their greater familiarity with these specialized techniques.

Radiotherapy departments worldwide have rapidly upgraded their capability to deliver stereotactic radiotherapy over the past few years. Following the outcomes of a recent clinical trial, it is probably going that prostate cancer can be added to the list of cancers that may be treated this manner.