Topics:
Radiation Oncology • Genitourinary Cancers
What is your approach for a brachytherapy boost in prostate cancer patients with extracapsular extension?
Are patients with extracapsular extension at diagnosis good candidates for brachytherapy boost? If extracapsular disease that can't be effectively encompased in an implant plan is still present on MRI after EBRT, do you still proceed? How long after completion of initial EBRT do you start planning and deliver the boost?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
In general for patients with documented extracapsular extension, the combination of external beam radiation along with brachytherapy is a very appropriate treatment intervention. For such patients, we generally initiate treatment with the brachytherapy and make sure that seed placement is well cover...
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Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
In the days before MRI, there was a common concern that if one tried to treat established extracapsular disease with a brachy boost, one risked undertreating the disease. However, with high quality multiparametric MRI this concern is dramatically reduced. As a result, I routinely treat patient...