Low Dose Supplemental External Radiation With PD-103 Versus PD-103 Alone For Prostate Cancer

Trial Information

Low Dose Supplemental External Radiation With PD-103 Versus PD-103 Alone For Prostate Cancer

Approximately 250,000 men are currently diagnosed with prostatic cancer in the United States
each year. Of those, 70% have stage T1 or T2 disease (apparently limited to the prostate
gland). Clinically localized prostate cancer is a spectrum of disease, ranging from good
prognosis to poor prognosis. Patients with a PSA above 10 ng/ml or Gleason score of 7 to 10
are referred to as intermediate risk, with approximately an 80% chance of cure.

Implantation of radioactive sources directly into the prostate (brachytherapy) delivers a
high, localized radiation dose while sparing most the of the bladder and rectum.
Brachytherapy is well established for other tumor sites, and has become a standard treatment
for prostate cancer.

Establishing that a good quality implant alone is as effective as implant plus beam
radiation will allow us to routinely drop the use of beam radiation, a change in policy that
will decrease the risk of some complications, will be more convenient for patients, and will
lower treatment costs.