ABSTRACT

Prostate cancer is an important cause of cancer releated deaths. Brachytherapy application in patients with prostate cancer has gained value increasingly in the last 20 years. Effective treatment outcomes with much lower side effects at least as prostatectomy can be achieved with brachytherapy. Although high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy application is used in addition to external radiotherapy as boost dose, it can be used as monotherapy for an alternative to low dose rate (LDR) brachyterapy.Nevertheless, due to limited clinical experience, HDR monotherapy is not recommended except in controlled clinical trials. Differently from LDR, HDR brachytherapy can be used in patients with invasion of prostatic capsul and/or seminal vesicle.This application is a minimal invazive procedure and ambulatory treatment resulting in a quick recovery. Development of long term sequelae or serious side effects are lower than those of surgical procedures. At the same time it also provides a better protection in terms of erectile dysfunction.