CINJ Hamilton Offers Brachytherapy to Treat Prostate Cancer

HAMILTON, NEW JERSEY - The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton (CINJ-H), located on the campus of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton), offers brachytherapy, a form of internal radiation therapy, for prostate cancer treatments that are more convenient.

Brachytherapy treatment is completed in just one session; this represents an alternative to the more conventional methods for treating prostate cancer, which can take 39 sessions over the course of eight weeks to complete.

"For patients with prostate cancer who qualify, brachytherapy is the most convenient way to receive treatment," says Michael McKenna, MD, Director of Radiation Oncology at CINJ-H and RWJ Hamilton. "I'm proud to be a part of the team at CINJ-H that provides this treatment option to the greater Mercer County community at our Hamilton facility using state-of-the-art equipment."

How Brachytherapy Works
Brachytherapy includes implanting 50 to 100 small radioactive seeds directly into the prostate. The seeds are smaller than of a grain of rice and cannot be felt once implanted. The seeds give off localized radiation inside the prostate for several months. The procedure, performed by a radiation oncologist and urologist, usually lasts about two hours.

"Most patients enter the operating room just after noon and are discharged from the hospital around 5:30 p.m. that same day," says Phillip Brackin, MD, a board certified urologist on staff at RWJ Hamilton. "Post-operative follow-up care for brachytherapy patients includes returning for CT scans and frequent blood tests to measure prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Patients may experience some side effects regarding urination following the procedure, which usually are resolved within approximately four months."

Brachytherapy is generally used for men with early stage, slow-growing prostate cancer. If the patient's prostate is too big, he may not be a good candidate. Occasionally a hormone treatment for a few months will shrink the prostate so that the brachytherapy is possible. Brachytherapy may also be done alone or in combination with a more conventional treatment method known as external beam radiation therapy.

CINJ-H Offers Other Options in Prostate Cancer Treatment
CINJ-H also offers the AccuLoc Gold Marker Localization program. Gold marker localization treatment is appropriate for patients with cancer that is limited to the prostate and immediate surrounding tissue. The AccuLoc system places three gold markers in the prostate to accurately localize the prostate gland. The radiation oncologist may then deliver a higher dose of radiation to the prostate gland without harming surrounding organs and structures through IMRT.

At CINJ-H, where gold marker localization is coupled with an IMRT treatment method known as the Varian Sliding Window Technique, treatment time is reduced to about six minutes per session. Patients usually receive treatment five days per week for about eight weeks.

"This treatment enables us to shape the radiation beam to each patient's specific anatomy," says Dr. McKenna. "Gold Marker Localization allows for the most accurate dose of radiation to treat the prostate and helps patients experience fewer side effects."

For more information about prostate brachytherapy, or prostate IMRT using the AccuLoc gold marker localization program, call 609.584.2801.

More About RWJ Hamilton
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton) is the only New Jersey hospital to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Located in Hamilton Township, NJ, the hospital is part of the RWJ Health System and Network and is affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey-RWJ Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

The RWJ Hamilton Health Care Corporation serves communities within a five-county area and includes an acute care hospital, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton, three affiliated medical groups, seven Lakeview Child Centers, and the RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness, home of a medically-based fitness center and the hospital's extensive community education program. Over 1,900 hospital employees and 650 medical staff physicians share RWJ Hamilton's passion for Excellence Through Service. For more information, visit www.rwjhamilton.org.