LOW DOSE RATE BRACHYTHERAPY TO TREAT PROSTATE CANCER
GAINS MOMENTUM IN STOCKHOLM

HELSINGBORG (April 15, 2008) – At Södersjukhuset in Stockholm, a new innovative Lose Dose Rate (LDR) Brachytherapy method BARD ProLink® has been recently been introduced. LDR Brachytherapy according to the BARD ProLink technique offers both clinical and patient benefits: dosimetry planning and actual treatment can be done in the same session, which increases cost-efficiency and allows patients to leave the hospital the following day.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Sweden. Around 10.000 Swedish men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and the number of diagnosed prostate cancer patients has been going up the last decades. 1 out of every 10 men in Sweden will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime1.

Depending on the progress of the tumor, prostate cancer can be treated in several different ways, i.e. external radiation, radical prostatectomy, cryotherapy, high dose rate brachytherapy, LDR brachytherapy, hormonal therapy or combinations of these treatments. In some cases, “watchful waiting,” - monitoring the progress of the tumor without active treatment - is chosen.

LDR Brachytherapy was introduced in the early 1920’s as an internal radiation treatment for localized prostate cancer. Since then, the technology and the technique have evolved with improvements in safety and efficacy. Small 4 mm metallic pins – “seeds” – that are loaded with isotope I-125 are inserted into the prostate guided by ultrasound imaging. Once the seeds are implanted, the radiation starts from inside and remains thereafter in the prostate.

For certain cancer categories radical prostatectomy and LDR Brachytherapy have similar clinical outcomes,2,3,4 but LDR Brachytherapy has shown lower complication rates for impotence and incontinence.

Södersjukhuset, one of three hospitals in Sweden to offer LDR Brachytherapy with seeds, has recently upgraded their Brachy treatment to the new BARD ProLink™ technique – a technique that combines the benefits of loose seeds and stranded seeds techniques. “With the ProLink™ technique, we believe we have introduced the best combination of loose and stranded seeds, says Dr Rolf Zimmerman, Oncologist and Senior Consultant, at Södersjukhuset/Karolinska, Department of Oncology. “We can now design and build our own linked seed chains with different distances between the seeds, this will optimally fit the individual patients need for dose distribution while not giving too much dose to the urethra or rectum or risking seed migration, as is the case with loose seeds, ”Dr. Zimmerman added.
With BARD ProLink® technique, volume measurement, dosimetry plan and seed placement occurs in the same operation and allows a time-efficient, minimally invasive outpatient procedure. Patients can normally leave the hospital the following day. For radical prostatectomy the post-op stay is up to 1 week and for external radiation the treatment goes over many days/weeks.

Contact:
Anneli Ahl, Product Specialist, Bard Norden AB, (+46 42 400 01 79)

1.Socialstyrelsen 2008, Popularversion av Nationella riktlinjer för prostatacancer.
2.Tward JD, Lee CM, Pappas LM, Szabo A, Gaffney DK, Shrieve DC. Survival of men with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with prostatectomy, Brachytherapy, or no definitive treatment: impact of age at diagnosis. Cancer. 2006 Nov 15;107(10):2392-400
3.Stone NN, Stock RG, Unger P: 10-year biochemical and local control following real-time I-125 prostate Brachytherapy. J Urol, 2003; 169 (suppl) 1720a
4. Ragde H, Modern Results in 219 Patients with up to 12 years of observed Follow up. Cancer 2000;89:1 135-141.