Top Seed

(article reprinted from Southern Cross Healthcare Magazine, Winter 2000)

Tiny seeds implanted in the prostate can treat cancer safely.

How can something smaller than a grain of rice cure cancer? It sounds incredible, but now there's a new treatment for prostate cancer that does just that, safely treating tumors from inside the body.

It's called prostate brachytherapy and now Southern Cross members have access to the treatment, which works implanting tiny radioactive seeds in the prostate, where they give off measured dose's of radiation to treat the cancer.

It is being offered for the first time in New Zealand Prostate by Prostate Implants in Auckland, a new Southern Cross Affiliated Provider.

The treatment is used mostly on early, small prostatic tumours, instead of radical surgery or radical radiotherapy, says radiation oncologist Dr John Matthews of Prostate Implants.

"It's a one off procedure - you're in hospital for 24 hours or less and you're generally back to your usual activities within a few days or a week" he says. "And yet it has the same high cure rate as other treatments. For those reasons, it's been a popular option."

The radioactive 'Iodine 125' seeds deliver the treatment over a period of four to six months. When the radioactivity has faded, the seeds just remain harmlessly in the body, says Dr Matthews.

The technique's main pluses are:

• a shorter hospital stay
• an early return to regular activities for the patient
• fewer complications
• it avoids major surgery or length external radiotherapy
• it is minimally invasive
• it has fewer side-effects such as urinary incontinance, bowel problems and impotence.

"The technique has been developed and refined in the US over the past 15 years," says Dr Matthews. "Since the results of the 7- to 10- year follow up studies have been published, it's been used more widely and it's now a recognised option for early prostate cancer."

The treatment is not yet available, in the public sector and Peter Lowry of Southern, Cross says some members in the past have traveled overseas for it. "Although it is expensive, we consider it's important that it's available to members. To that end, we have worked closely with Prostate Implant's Dr Matthews and urologist Mr Derek Rothwell to manage the clinical and financial risks of the treatment, and make it affordable," he says.

The service is offered from the Southern Cross Brightside Hospital in Auckland, by Dr Matthews, urologists Mr Rothwell, Mr John Boulton and Mr Michael Rice, medical physicist Mr Lee Dakers and a specialist nursing staff.