Local cancer boost

Breakthrough prostate treatment

FOR the first time in Geelong, local men with prostate cancer can access a new precision treatment.

The treatment, focal brachytherapy, is available at Icon Cancer Centre through the Liberate clinical registry.

The registry aims to support the use of the cuttingedge prostate cancer treatment and reduce side effects to preserve men’s quality of life.

At any one time, more than 2500 men are living with prostate cancer in Greater Geelong, with 176 men receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis in the region each year.

For these men, treatment may involve difficult side effects such as urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction that can continue long into the future.

Focal brachytherapy is a highly targeted technique that involves the implantation of small radioactive seeds directly into the cancerous area of the prostate.

These seeds deliver radiation to destroy the cancer over a short period.

Unlike traditional brachytherapy, the seeds are placed into the tumour rather than the whole prostate, preserving the rest of the prostate gland and limiting side effects.

Icon’s Liberate clinical registry, which was launched in 2019, monitors men who have undergone focal brachytherapy for low to intermediate risk prostate cancer at Icon Cancer Centre in collaboration with Epworth Healthcare.

The registry will span a 10year period, collecting data on individual patients for five years to determine the effects of treatment on long-term quality of life and rates of cancer control. Having this advanced treatment option available close to home was a source of comfort for Grovedale 77-year-old Neville Burge, who was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer earlier this year.

“I have a very close friend with advanced prostate cancer who has had massive side effects from his treatment, both psychologically and physically,” Mr Burge, who is now in remission, said.

“If focal brachytherapy wasn’t available to me at Icon, I would have said no to treatment rather than potentially facing those long-term side effects.” Mr Burge said he had no side effects at all.

“I’m back at the gym and doing everything I used to do; I’ve hardly missed a beat,” Mr Burge said.

Icon Cancer Centre radiation oncologist Andrew See said focal brachytherapy represented a new approach to prostate cancer treatment that was previously unavailable in the region.

“We are very proud to now offer local men with early prostate cancer hope that they need not face the difficult side effects that have become synonymous with some treatment options, such as bladder and bowel incontinence and sexual dysfunction,” Dr See said.

As part of the Liberate clinical registry, focal brachytherapy treatment is now available at Icon Cancer Centres at Geelong, Richmond and Freemasons.