Programs and Services

• Standard brachytherapy — radioactive “seeds” are implanted in the prostate in a minor outpatient surgical procedure; the seeds give off radiation at a low dose rate over several weeks and remain in the prostate gland permanently
  
  
• High-dose-rate brachytherapy — a number of tiny catheters (tubes) are placed into and around the tumor, and a high dose of radiation is delivered through the catheters to the tumor; the entire treatment takes days instead of weeks
  
  
• Intensity modulated radiotherapy — a process that uses computers to plan the precise delivery of thousands of tiny, thin radiation beams, (rather than a single large radiation beam) to the tumor; the computer determines the best way to deliver treatment by “modulating” the intensity of each radiation beam
  
  
• TomoTherapy® — an intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) system — combines precise 3-D imaging from computerized tomography (CT) scanning with highly targeted radiation beams.
  
  
• Cryosurgery — uses an instrument to freeze and destroy cancer cells in the prostate gland
  
  
• Robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy — minimally invasive (laparoscopic) surgery to remove the prostate gland; to perform the surgery, the surgeon manipulates four computerized robot arms
  
  
• Nerve-sparing robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy — minimally invasive (laparoscopic) surgery to remove the prostate gland while sparing the nerves that control a man’s ability to have an erection; to perform the surgery, the surgeon manipulates four computerized robot arms
  
  
• Open prostatectomy — open (non-laparoscopic) surgery to remove the prostate gland using a standard incision
  
  
• Nerve-sparing open prostatectomy — open (non-laparoscopic) surgery that uses a standard incision to remove the prostate gland while sparing the nerves that control a man’s ability to have an erection
  
  

Author: Marla Fraunfelder

Last Review Date: Dec. 17, 2008

Online Editor(s): Marla Fraunfelder