Seed implantation is a radiotherapeutic procedure used to treat tumors. This state-of-the-art therapy is mainly used for people with localized prostate cancer.
Below you will find further information on this therapy procedure and specialists for seed implantation.
In Germany alone, more than 60,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related death in men.
Seed implantation is mainly used for men with prostate cancer. It has only become established in Germany in recent years due to its good results. Like radiotherapy, the procedure uses high-energy radiation to combat cancer cells.
Seed implantation is one of the brachytherapy procedures. In brachytherapy procedures, the radiation source is placed in the immediate vicinity of the tumor or directly into the tumor.
Seeds are tiny radiation sources. During implantation, the doctor inserts up to 80 seeds directly into the tumor.
The implantation is carried out under constant ultrasound monitoring and under general or partial anesthesia. The doctor uses puncture needles to insert the seeds, which are placed at the correct points in the prostate using a coordinate system.
The seeds remain in the prostate and develop their effect on the tumor there. The advantage of seed implantation over normal radiotherapy is the direct proximity of the radiation source to the tumor. This means that the radiation affects significantly less healthy tissue.
Today, more than 70 percent of all prostate carcinomas are detected at a very early stage. At this stage, the tumors are often still confined to the organ and can be easily cured.
For some patients, no direct treatment is necessary. Careful monitoring is sufficient for them.
In other patients, local treatment of the prostate tumor is necessary. Various procedures are possible for this:
About a week before the procedure, the specialist medical team begins planning. To do this, the doctors take transrectal ultrasound images of the rectum. A planning computer uses the images to determine the size, shape and position of the prostate. Based on this, the radiotherapist determines the number and position of the seeds.
You must stop taking blood-thinning medication such as ASA, Aspirin, Lixiana or Plavix one week before the procedure. Two days before the procedure, you will take an antibiotic and an alpha-blocker.
The procedure takes around 60 minutes. The doctor inserts up to 80 short-radiation iodine sources into the prostate during the procedure. If the treatment is successful, the high-dose radiation from the seeds destroys the tumor tissue from the inside.
While the patient is under anesthesia, ultrasound images are continuously taken. These are used to compare the positions of the seeds with the actual location in the ultrasound image. If there are any shifts in the radiation plan, these can be corrected very precisely.
This increases the precision of brachytherapy and therefore the success of the treatment.
The procedure only takes around 60 minutes and is minimally invasive. For this reason, patients are treated as short inpatients in hospital. As a rule, patients can leave the clinic one day after the procedure and return to work a few days later.
You should take it easy physically in the initial period after the implantation. In the first few weeks, refrain from
Also avoid putting pressure on the prostate and perineum, for example by
Approximately four weeks after the implantation, a follow-up planning takes place. The doctors use CT (computer tomography) to check whether the seeds are still in the planned positions. If there has been a shift, correction is still possible at this point without any problems.
Further urological follow-up examinations also take place every three months. These include
The PSA value refers to the concentration of the prostate-specific antigen in the blood. The value indicates whether changes have occurred in the prostate and whether the protein is elevated.
An elevated PSA value does not necessarily indicate progression of the cancer. Higher PSA values can also be caused by an inflammatory reaction of the prostate, for example as a reaction to the effects of radiation.
Seed implantation is a minimally invasive procedure that places little strain on the body. Imaging procedures such as CT and MRI enable the exact location of the tumor tissue. Radiation oncologists can therefore direct the radiation precisely to the affected tissue. This means that surrounding tissue is spared as far as possible.
Seed implantation achieves good results with comparatively few side effects.
Long-term studies show that the cure rate of the procedure for the early stages of the disease is between 80 and 90 percent. The method is therefore an equivalent alternative to radical surgery, but is much gentler on the body.
In terms of side effects, seed implantation even offers advantages over radical surgery. Patients practically never suffer from incontinence after treatment. Only 10 to 30 percent of treated patients report impotence three years after the procedure. This is a significantly lower proportion than with surgery. Although erectile dysfunction also occurs, this does not occur immediately as with surgery, but develops gradually.
As the strain on the body is so low, the method has also become established in Germany after the USA. Many German clinics and therapy centers already offer this form of prostate cancer treatment.
According to current figures, the 15-year survival rate after the procedure is 94 to 98 percent for low-risk patients. For medium-risk patients, it is 89 to 97 percent.
Seed implantation is a recognized procedure for the treatment of prostate cancer due to its good chances of cure.
In the early stages of the disease, implantation is an equivalent or even superior option to surgical removal of the prostate. One reason for this is the comparatively low side effects. The procedure is much gentler on the patient and unpleasant consequences of the operation occur less frequently or later.
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