Prostate Cancer Treatment Radiation Pellets
Internal radiation therapy irt or brachytherapy involves placing radioactive pellets inside the body on the prostate gland.
Prostate cancer treatment radiation pellets. In the last few years a new treatment option has been added which makes use of tiny radioactive pellets about the size of a staple which is directly place into the prostate using hollow needles. This was the treatment recently. Internal radiation therapy brachytherapy. Other therapies used in the treatment of prostate cancer that are still under investigation include.
Brachytherapy or internal radiation therapy are also terms used to describe this procedure. The pellets are around the size of a grain of rice according to. It delivers radiation from small radioactive seeds or pellets each the size of a grain of rice that. Radiation therapy can be delivered external to the body but the high energy radiation waves also may cause injury to the surrounding tissue such as the bladder and the rectum.
Radioactive seeds or pellets are surgically placed into or near the cancer to destroy the cancer cells. A machine outside the body directs radiation at the cancer cells. You may hear it called internal radiation therapy. It s a good option for early stage or low grade prostate cancer.
The seeds may give off high or low amounts of radiation. 28 2000 chicago tens of thousands of men with prostate cancer are coming home with radioactive pellets permanently implanted in the small gland in their groin but new research says. The best treatment for prostate cancer that is confined to the gland itself is radical surgery or radiation therapy. There are two types of.
To plan an implant doctors analyze ultrasound images of the patient s prostate and determine how many pellets will be needed and where each pellet should be placed. In a brachytherapy procedure small radioactive pellets are inserted into the prostate delivering a concentrated radiation dose to the cancerous area. A newer type of radiation involving the implantation of radioactive pellets or seeds into the prostate gland has also become popular over the past few years. Prostate brachytherapy brachytherapy is a procedure to implant radioactive seeds pellets into the prostate gland to kill prostate cancer cells.
Radioactive seed implants are a form of radiation therapy for prostate cancer.