WEDNESDAY, April 28, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Three leading prostate cancer treatments -- radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy -- all have similar outcomes, says a study in the April issue of Radiotherapy and Oncology.
The seven-year study included more than 1,800 men with early stage prostate cancer treated at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Of those patients, 746 had radical prostatectomy, 340 had external beam radiation therapy, and 732 had brachytherapy, in which radioactive seeds are implanted into the prostate. The study found all three treatments had statistically similar outcomes at seven years.
"This study is important because we have not seen much side-by-side randomized data for patients with clinically localized prostate cancer, who are treated with only one therapy," study author Dr. Louis Potters, director of the New York Prostate Institute, said in a prepared statement.
"The fact that the study was unencumbered by mixing treatments, and that there was sufficient follow-up in each study group, strengthens the power of the results," Potters said.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about prostate cancer.
