prostate-report.org

Patient-reported quality of life after salvage brachytherapy for radio-recurrent prostate cancer

A scietific team at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.has reported on quality of life of a small group of patients receiving salvage brachytherapy following the failure of first-line external beam radiation for localized prostate cancer. The authors report that, patients who receive salvage brachytherapy report a worsening of bowel and urinary symptoms followed by some improvement by 27 months, while sexual function steadily declines over time. Interval to re-irradiation and type of prior radiation received may be used to counsel and optimize selection of men for salvage brachytherapy with regard to QOL endpoints.