Brachytherapy?

"Brachy" is a Greek prefix meaning "short" (just as "tele" means long). Brachytherapy is treatment at short range, as contrasted, for example, with being bombarded at a distance by external beam radiation. In prostate brachytherapy, we use radiation in the form of small "seeds" placed very close to the area being treated. This minimizes the chance of affecting nearby tissue, while still delivering enough radiation to the prostate to destroy the offending cells

Ultrasound-guided prostate brachytherapy is a relatively new technique, having been pioneered in the U.S. in the mid 1080"s. This form of treatment, also called "interstitial brachytherapy" or simply a "seed implant", is not surgery. It does not require a hospital stay; and it does not affect the patient's lifestyle. What it does is kill cancer cells with radiation.

Prostate brachytherapy is an outpatient procedure which requires (after an inital exam) two visits to the treatment center. During the first visit, a "volume study" measures the prostate gland by means of ultrasound.

A few weeks later the patient returns, this time to have radioactive seeds inserted (by means of a needle, the same guage as is used when you donate blood) directly into the prostate, while under anesthesia. The procedure takes about an hour; after that the patient spends two or more hours recovering from the effects of the anesthesia. Then he goes home. Some patients feel well enough to go out to dinner the same evening; most are back to work within a few days.

As with any medical procedure, the patient is well advised to ask informed questions, to review alternatives, to understand his diagnosis, and to satisfy himself as to what is involved in all potential courses of treatment.