Obese PCa patients may benefit more from brachytherapy

Brachytherapy may be a more beneficial treatment than surgery or external beam radiation therapy for overweight or obese prostate cancer patients, according to a study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics (2008; 71:1302-8).

“Brachytherapy may be the preferable treatment for obese men with early-stage prostate cancer,” said Anthony Zietman, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. “Being overweight does not present any unique technical challenges for brachytherapy as it does for surgery and external beam.”

Researchers at Massachusetts General and Boston Medical Center sought to determine whether the same problems seen in overweight men who undergo surgery or external beam radiation therapy were seen in similar men treated with brachytherapy. The study of 374 prostate cancer patients who were treated with brachytherapy from 1996 to 2001 determined that the 6-year PSA failure rate for men who were overweight or obese who underwent brachytherapy was no higher than for those of normal weight-unlike their counterparts who were treated with surgery or external beam radiation.