Study identifies when and how much various prostate cancer treatments will impact urinary and sexual functioning
Looking over data gathered from more than 17,000 surveys completed by men diagnosed with prostate cancer, Fox Chase researchers tracked when patients’ urinary and sexual symptoms changed following each type of treatment, and by how much. “The ultimate goal,” says study author Matthew Johnson, MD, Resident Physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Fox Chase, “is to develop a predictive tool that lets patients decide which treatment is right for them based on the symptoms they have beforehand, and their tolerance for any change — even temporary — in those symptoms.” After a diagnosis of prostate cancer, men have multiple treatment options, including surgery to remove the prostate and several types of radiation therapy. They can receive external beam radiation directed towards their prostate, known as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), or undergo a procedure that implants radioactive seeds in their prostate called low dose rate brachytherapy (LDR). …