<p>Doctors at the Medanta Cancer Institute here have achieved a high degree of success while undertaking India’s first permanent seed implant surgery for the treatment of early-stage prostate cancer.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In the “pinhole” surgery, radioactive Iodine-125 seeds are permanently embedded. <br />These are low attenuating (intensity) and do not pose any risk to the family members of the patient, and which become biologically inert after ten months, according to a press release by the hospital.<br /><br />“This pinhole procedure called as low dose rate brachytherapy or permanent brachytherapy uses implants that are about the size of a grain of rice and are inserted directly into the tumour with the help of thin hollow needles,” Dr Tejinder Kataria, chairperson, division of radiation oncology at Medanta Cancer Institute, said.<br /><br />These implants are left in place after the radiation has been used up and their small size causes little or no discomfort, he said.<br /><br />Maiden initiative<br /><br />“This kind of intervention for localised prostate cancer has never been tried before in India and Medanta Cancer Institute has taken the lead in implementing this initiative with a high degree of success," Kataria said.<br /><br />The procedure allows treatment time to be reduced to maximum one day instead of the previously required eight weeks of radiation therapy.<br /><br />Early-stage patients whose cancer is contained within the prostate respond best to this type of procedure, the release said.<br /></p>
<p>Doctors at the Medanta Cancer Institute here have achieved a high degree of success while undertaking India’s first permanent seed implant surgery for the treatment of early-stage prostate cancer.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In the “pinhole” surgery, radioactive Iodine-125 seeds are permanently embedded. <br />These are low attenuating (intensity) and do not pose any risk to the family members of the patient, and which become biologically inert after ten months, according to a press release by the hospital.<br /><br />“This pinhole procedure called as low dose rate brachytherapy or permanent brachytherapy uses implants that are about the size of a grain of rice and are inserted directly into the tumour with the help of thin hollow needles,” Dr Tejinder Kataria, chairperson, division of radiation oncology at Medanta Cancer Institute, said.<br /><br />These implants are left in place after the radiation has been used up and their small size causes little or no discomfort, he said.<br /><br />Maiden initiative<br /><br />“This kind of intervention for localised prostate cancer has never been tried before in India and Medanta Cancer Institute has taken the lead in implementing this initiative with a high degree of success," Kataria said.<br /><br />The procedure allows treatment time to be reduced to maximum one day instead of the previously required eight weeks of radiation therapy.<br /><br />Early-stage patients whose cancer is contained within the prostate respond best to this type of procedure, the release said.<br /></p>