IMRT spares bladder in prostate radiation

BOSTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, spares the bladder more from direct radiation compared to 3-D conformal proton therapy, a U.S. study found.

The Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, jointly conducted the study to determine the comparative benefits and drawbacks of IMRT versus 3D-CPT as treatments for patients with prostate cancer and to determine whether specific cases should be assigned to one treatment method over the other.

"This study was important because it reassures a patient with prostate cancer that the methods that are available at his local hospital may, in many cases, be as good as those that are currently only available in a limited number of centers," study author Dr. Anthony L. Zietman said in a statement.

The study, published in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology -- Biology -- Physics, found the percentage of bladder volumes receiving more than 70 Gy/CGE was reduced by an average of 34 percent when using IMRT versus 3D-CPT but the rectal volumes were found to be equivalent.