IMRT Reported to Have Fewer Prostate Cancer Treatment Effects

A report from researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia states that intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, produces clinical outcomes equaling iodine 125 brachytherapy for men with localized low-risk prostate cancer but with less acute and less chronic toxicities.

The study compared toxicities from IMRT and brachytherapy for 374 patients with localized prostate cancer who were treated at Fox Chase between 1998 and 2004. Median follow-up for patients was 43 months. Patients treated with IMRT experienced less acute and less chronic gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities.

Although this was not a randomized trial, the researchers concluded that patients in the IMRT group did better. The results are published in the January 17, 2008, edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics.