TUESDAY, June 4, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Prostate cancer is completely non-discriminatory, according to a recent study.
A person's race doesn't affect whether he'll be cured of prostate cancer when treated with permanent radioactive implants, says new research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering at Mercy Medical Center in New York City, one of the top cancer research and treatment centers in America.
Sloan-Kettering scientists compared the recurrence rates between 246 black and 843 white men who had their prostate cancer treated with permanent prostate brachytherapy, also known as radioactive seed implantation.
Between September 1992 and September 1999, the men had either permanent prostate brachytherapy alone or had it in combination with external beam radiation.
The researchers found that 84 percent of the blacks and 81 percent of the whites were cancer-free five years after receiving their treatment.
The study appears in the June issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.
More information
This article from the Cleveland Clinic traces the history of brachytherapy since it first began in the 1970s. Its success rate has improved significantly.
