Research work of Prof. Yoshioka on high-dose-rate brachytherapy monotherapy for prostate cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. If identified early, treatment can be very effective, but morbidity rates are higher in older patients and in cases where the cancer is identified in the later stages. Three main treatment options are surgery, external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Professor Yasuo Yoshioka, Radiation Oncology Department, Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, believes brachytherapy to be the most effective treatment option for prostate cancer patients and is working to improve the methods by which brachytherapy is performed in order to further enhance its effectiveness, while reducing the amount of damage to the patient during the course of treatment. Yoshioka and his team are focused on high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy as they believe it has advantages over low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy, including its ability to treat advanced-stage patients, the ability to adjust the strength of radiation at each source position and the fact that no radiation sources will be left in the patient's body after treatment. Yoshioka reported the world's first HDR monotherapy experience for prostate cancer and, over the past decade, he and his team have been refining the procedure in order to maximise the effect of the treatment while minimising damage to the patient.