[Salvage 125I brachytherapy of locally recurrent prostate cancer]

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to report a case of salvage low dose rate (LDR) prostate brachytherapy in a patient with locally recurrent prostate cancer, four years after his first treatment with combined external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy. A 61-year-old man was treated with 1x10 Gy HDR brachytherapy and a total of 60 Gy EBRT for an organ confined intermediate risk carcinoma of the prostate in 2009. The patient's tumor had been in regression with the lowest PSA level of 0.09 ng/ml, till the end of 2013. After slow but continuous elevation, his PSA level had reached 1.46 ng/ml by February 2014. Pelvis MRI and whole body acetate PET/CT showed recurrent tumor in the dorsal-right region of the prostate. Bone scan was negative. After discussing the possible salvage treatment options with the patient, he chose LDR brachytherapy. In 2014, in spinal anesthesia 21 125I "seeds" were implanted with transrectal ultrasound guidance into the prostate. The prescribed dose to the whole prostate was 100 Gy, to the volume of the recurrent tumor was 140 Gy. The patient tolerated the salvage brachytherapy well. The postimplant dosimetry was evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging-computed tomography (MR-CT) fusion and appeared satisfactory. PSA level decreased from the pre-salvage value of 1.46 ng/ml to 0.42 ng/ml by one month and 0.18 ng/ml by two months after the brachytherapy. No gastrointestinal side effects appeared, the patient's urination became slightly more frequent. In selected patients, salvage LDR brachytherapy can be a good choice for curative treatment of locally recurrent prostate cancer, after primary radiation therapy. Multiparametric MRI is fundamental, acetate PET/CT can play an important role when defining the localization of the recurrent tumor.