Prostate - Seeds: Advanced Radiation Centers of New York

Prostate Brachytherapy, also known as a Radioactive Transperineal Protate Seed Implant is another method of delivering radiation, which uses radioactive seeds implanted into the prostate. This form of therapy delivers photon radiation from the inside-out, as opposed to Intensity Modulated Radiation therapy (IMRT) or Image Guided Radiation therapy (IGRT), which delivers radiation from the outside-in with external beams.

Seed implants became a very popular treatment for prostate cancer in the late 90's and early part of this decade, in large part because of the convenience of this treatment. It is typically performed as an outpatient in about an hour or so. When compared to older forms of external radiation (such as IMRT without IGRT), seeds and radiation were fairly comparable in terms of their side effects. However, it has been our experience, at Advanced Radiation Centers of New York, that the newer technologies such as Image Guided Radiation Therapy and RapidArc have reduced side effects so much that when you compare external radiation to seed radiation, in general, the side effects of are far less for the external radiation than for a seed implant. At ARC and other facilities in the country that are on the leading edge of technologies, the pendulum has swung toward IGRT and away from seed implantation, since the cure rates are the same, but the side effects of a seed implant tend to be greater.

The physicians at ARC have performed thousands of seed implants, and continue to do so using the latest in computerized dosimetry for patients in which a seed implant is an appropriate option. In addition, in certain situations, seed implants are performed in conjunction with IGRT. See Prostate Seed Implants in the Technology section of the website for more information and to read more about how prostate seed implants are performed.

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Seed Implants for Prostate Cancer