Cancer Care-Twice the Trust
Prostate Brachytherapy/Seed Implants
Prostate brachytherapy (radioactive seed implants) is available
at Beverly Hospital as part of Northeast Hospital Corporation's
(NHC) ongoing relationship with cancer services at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Interstitial radiotherapy is just
one in a number of services to benefit from the NHC/BIDMC
collaboration, which brings tertiary cancer care and expanded
capabilities to the North Shore.
The seed implant program involves:
- Beverly Hospital ultrasound technologists who complete a
preplanning volume study of the prostate, and then assist with
transrectal ultrasound-guided seed placement during the actual
procedure;
- BIDMC radiation oncologists and dosimetrists who plan the
number and type of radioactive seeds, and create a location
placement map; and
- Beverly Hospital urologists perform the seed placement therapy
at Beverly Hospital.
Prostate brachytherapy has proven effective as initial
monotherapy when cancer is early stage and confined to the
prostate. Short-term studies show seeds to be comparable in outcome
to radical prostatectomy and external radiation therapy in men with
low-risk prostate cancer. Compared to surgery and radiation,
brachytherapy has a lower risk of impotence and incontinence and
unlike surgery, minimal discomfort and recovery period with no
hospital stay.
Contraindications to the therapy include patients who have
already undergone a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP),
or those who have pubic arch interference, morbid obesity, or
obstructive symptoms due to an enlarged prostate gland.
