Brachytherapy Treatment Outcomes Not Affected by Family Histor, Study Finds
Friday, January 02 2009 00:00
Seeding for Prostate Cancer Not Affected by Adverse Family History
Having a father or brother with prostate cancer has no impact on the outcomes of prostate cancer patients treated with brachytherapy (also called seed implants), according to a January 1 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology. Patients with a first-degree family history have clinical and pathologic characteristics similar to men with no family history at all.
"This information is relevant for both physicians and patients with new diagnoses as they embark on complex treatment decisions," Christopher A. Peters, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Northeast Radiation Oncology Center in Dunmore, Pa. (chief resident at Mount Sinai School of Medicine at the time of the study), said. "Now patients with a family history of prostate cancer can be confident that they have the same outcomes as patients with sporadic disease, regardless of the treatment modality they chose."
In the study, researchers at the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Urology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York sought to determine if having a familial history of prostate cancer, which is defined as a clustering of prostate cancer cases within a family, had an impact on the prognosis of men treated with brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer patients.
Researchers followed 1,738 prostate cancer patients, of whom 187 had a family history of prostate cancer in a first-degree relative, for a median follow-up time of 5 years (60 months). They found that in the low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, a family history of prostate cancer had little to no prognostic significance in men treated with brachytherapy. Previous studies done with prostate cancer patients receiving external beam radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy had similar findings.
Edited by J. Strax.
ABSTRACT:
Effect of Family History on Outcomes in PatientsTreated With Definitive Brachytherapy for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer
Christopher A. Peters, M.D.?, Richard G. Stock, M.D.?, Seth R. Blacksburg, M.D., M.B.A.?, Nelson N. Stone, M.D.
ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit www.astro.org.
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