| High Dose Radiation for Prostate Cancer Won't Raise Sexual Dysfunction
TUESDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Among prostate cancer patients undergoing a high-tech form of radiation therapy, exposure to a higher amount of radiation over a shorter time span poses no added risk for impaired sexual function, new research reveals. "For men getting a high dose of radiation in a shorter amount of time than is typical -- meaning getting higher doses per day for fewer days -- a loss of sexual function is the chronic side effect that concerns most," noted study co-author Dr. Eric Horwitz, a clinical director in the department of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Medical Center in Philadelphia. "But we found that sexual function wasn't any worse than when patients got radiation in the conventional high-dose way," he said. Horwitz and lead author Mark Buyyounouski, also at Fox Chase, were expected to present their team's findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, in Los Angeles.
IMRT spares bladder in prostate radiation
BOSTON, Oct. 11 Intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, spares the bladder more from direct radiation compared to 3-D conformal proton therapy, a U.S. study found.
The Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, jointly conducted the study to determine the comparative benefits and drawbacks of IMRT versus 3D-CPT as treatments for patients with prostate cancer and to determine whether specific cases should be assigned to one treatment method over the other.
"This study was important because it reassures a patient with prostate cancer that the methods that are available at his local hospital may, in many cases, be as good as those that are currently only available in a limited number of centers," study author Dr.
ID cancer early, then get yearly screenings
A smile stretched across Bill Nevels' youthful face as he reminisced about peeking into George Steinbrenner's office. As he tells it, the New York Yankees owner had left early because his team was losing, and Nevels' grown son's connections got them the sports equivalent of a backstage pass. A sports fan extraordinaire and longtime grade school coach, Nevels, 72, isn't short on sports stories and he has a zest for telling them. But nearly a decade ago, as he was just getting into retirement, Nevels wasn't sure how many big-time sporting events he'd be able to make. He had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent external beam radiation followed up with brachytherapy in which radiation oncologist Dr. Marc Apple implanted tiny "seeds" in Nevels' prostate that emitted a controlled dose of radiation.
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