Talking further with your oncologist (cancer expert), urologist (expert on the urinary system) or specialist nurse will help you make a decision about which treatment is right for you. Don't be afraid to ask questions about anything you don't understand, and don't be afraid to ask them to repeat what you are being told. Taking someone with you can help and some people find that taking notes is also useful.

Considerations

When thinking about having LDR brachytherapy (seed implantation), the following considerations are important.

• You should be in reasonably good health.
• Your cancer should be localised to the prostate gland (i.e. not spread outside of the prostate gland)
• Your PSA test levels should be 10 or less (low-risk), or 10-20 (intermediate-risk)
• Your Gleason score, which measures how aggressive or active your cancer is, should be 6 or less (low-risk), or 7 (intermediate-risk)
• The size of your prostate gland should generally be less than 60 cc. In some cases patients with larger prostates have been effectively treated.
• LDR brachytherapy may not be suitable for you if you have had previous urinary surgery
• You should have few urinary symptoms related to your cancer
• You should be able to flex your hips to 90 degrees
• You should not have received previous pelvic radiotherapy (EBRT)

Click on the following Tables for further information. Table 1 will help you to discuss with your partner and your healthcare team if you are suitable for LDR brachytherapy.

Table 1: Treatment selector chart -  Click here to view chart
Reproduced with permission from The Prostate Brachytherapy Centre, Guildford

If you are told that you are suitable for LDR brachytherapy you may then want to compare it with other treatments suitable for you.

Table 2: Chart comparing side effects associated with different treatments. -  Click here to view chart
Reproduced with permission from The Prostate Brachytherapy Centre, Guildford