Five year prostate-specific antigen outcomes after caesium prostate brachytherapy

Aims: To report 5 year prostate-specific antigen outcomes in men undergoing prostate brachytherapy with caesium 131 at a single institution.

Materials and methods: All patients who underwent prostate brachytherapy with caesium 131 at our institution and had at least 24 months of follow-up were included in this study. The results are reported by risk group (low, intermediate and high) as well as by treatment received (monotherapy, combination therapy or trimodal therapy). The Phoenix definition (absolute nadir plus 2 ng/ml) was used to define biochemical freedom from disease (BFD).

Results: Four hundred and eighty-five patients underwent prostate brachytherapy with caesium 131 at our institution and 367 patients had at least 24 months of follow-up and were included in this analysis. Using the Phoenix criteria, 5 year actuarial BFD was 96.0% for patients in the low-risk category, 92.7% for patients in the intermediate-risk category and 82.9% for patients in the high-risk category. By treatment category, 95.7% of men treated with monotherapy had BFD, 84.9% of men treated with combination therapy had BFD and 92.0% of men treated with trimodal therapy had BFD.

Conclusions: The present study showed that prostate brachytherapy with caesium 131 achieves excellent oncological outcomes at 5 years.