Prostate Cancer Treatments Safe Prostate Seed Institute in Dallas Responds to Recent Outcomes in Philadelphia
Prostate brachytherapy incident in Philadelphia may have been caused in part by inadequate quality control.
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) July 8, 2009 -- In response to the report in the New York Times regarding poor brachytherapy outcomes at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania VA, Gregory A. Echt, MD of the Prostate Seed Institute in Dallas speaks out to ease any concerns.
"Prostate brachytherapy in appropriately selected patients can yield some of the finest outcomes regarding intervention and management of prostate cancer with excellent quality of life issues," he says, adding that the incident in Philadelphia may have been caused in part by inadequate quality control.
In that case, a number of the radioactive seeds used to treat prostate cancer ended up in the patient's bladder instead of his prostate, causing complications. Dr. Echt believes that if the Philadelphia VA radiation oncologist had undertaken a quality assurance protocol, the data would have shown that the prostate was inadequately dosed and/or that he overdosed some other organs. Good quality assurance is proper in all radiation oncology endeavors, particularly in prostate brachytherapy.
"Here at the Las Colinas Cancer Center we have done thousands of prostate seed implant procedures with very minimal significant complications to our patients," he says. "We have a proper quality assurance plan and protocol which is very important to us. Good quality assurance is proper in all radiation oncology endeavors, particularly in prostate brachytherapy. With good quality assurance data and meticulous physicians and physicists, prostate seed implants yield some of the best outcome data known to the world for management of prostate cancer with excellent quality of life thereafter."
A major component in the quality control at the Prostate Seed Institute is a follow-up CT scan a month after surgery. The data is downloaded and reviewed independently by a Ph.D physicist. That physicist goes over the data regarding the dose distribution to the prostate, bladder, urethra, and rectum and the staff looks at quality assurance parameters of how much dose is needed in the prostate and what doses are received by surrounding tissues. The physicist and Gregory A. Echt, MD then review each individual implant. "We check the dose distribution to make sure that the prostate gland received proper doses and that we were not over dosing other organs," Echt says.
About The Prostate Seed Institute:
Founded by Dr. Gregory Echt , the Prostate Seed Institute offers the most modern, non-surgical treatment for prostate cancer at multiple locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with continuing success. Dr. Gregory Echt and his team at the Prostate Seed Institute offer the most highly sophisticated methods of radiation therapy available in the United States, equal to that found in major medical center and academic settings. These include prostate seed implantation, high dose radiation implants, and external beam radiation with image-guided and intensity-modulated (IGRT and IMRT) capabilities. www.prostateseedinstitute.com
###
Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/U3F1YS1TaW5nLUluc2UtQ3Jhcy1NYWduLUNvdXAtWmVybw==
Bookmark -
Del.icio.us |
Furl It |
Technorati |
Ask |
MyWeb |
Propeller |
Live Bookmarks |
Newsvine |
TailRank |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
Digg |
Stumbleupon |
Google Bookmarks |
Sphere |
Blink It |
Spurl
|
