prostate-report.org

The regional vagaries of Medicare coverage (in the USA)

Although there are certainly unanswered questions about the effectiveness and safety of CyberKnife therapy in the long-term management of localized prostate cancer, it has one huge benefit over conventional radiotherapy for the patient who prefers the idea of external beam radiation for localized prostate cancer as compared to other forms of treatment: it takes only 5 clinic visits as opposed to daily visits for 8 weeks.

The issue of national coverage (as compared to regional coverage) of what may be deemed “investigational” therapies as compared to recommended therapies is addressed in some detail in the article, using the CyberKnife treatment as an example.

One issue is very clear, if you are a Medicare patient with prostate cancer, you may want to make sure whether CyberKnife radiation is covered in your state before you become emotionally committed to the idea. If you determine that this is the treatment you want, and then you find you can’t get it, you are liable to end up unsatisfied with whatever other form of therapy you do decide on, regardless of its actual success level.