Preliminary results show that a shortened course of radiation therapy for prostate cancer called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) provides good PSA response for early-stage prostate cancer and has the same side effects as other treatments, according to a March 15 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics , the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
Study authors caution that further follow-up will be necessary to establish that SBRT is as effective in the long term as other proven treatments.
Radiation therapy is an effective way to treat localized prostate cancer. Proven successful treatments include brachytherapy (seed implants) where radiation sources are placed directly into the prostate and external beam radiation therapy where doctors give small daily doses of radiation to the prostate, five days a week, for eight weeks to give enough radiation to kill the cancer cells while sparing nearby healthy tissue.
External beam radiation therapy can be a very effective and minimally invasive treatment. However, the length of treatment can be burdensome for some patients, particularly those who live very far from a treatment facility. Doctors have been investigating ways to shorten the course of the treatment through a technique called stereotactic body radiation therapy, where radiation oncologists give a higher dose of radiation every day for five days. Growing biologic evidence also suggests that delivering radiotherapy in this fashion might be more effective for prostate cancer than conventionally protracted courses.