New Prostate Cancer Treatment Tested at Beaumont

In what a leading radiation oncologist hails as a new era of prostate cancer treatment, a Beverly Hills man last month became the first in the world to undergo a single-dose radiation treatment with the hope of fewer side effects.

The outpatient procedure was performed Nov. 29 by Dr. Alvaro Martinez, chairman of radiation oncology at in Royal Oak, as the culmination of an 18-year study aimed at killing cancer cells while reducing the risk of damage to surrounding tissues.

"This is not something that came out of the blue," Martinez said Friday. "What I was hoping 18 years ago is that within 15 minutes, I could cure your prostate cancer. That was the dream. It's an amazing achievement."

The treatment, known to Beaumont radiation oncologists as high-dose-rate brachytherapy, involves the temporary implantation of a radioactive pellet, about the size of a grain of rice, into a prostate tumor. The pellet releases a high dose of radiation when plastic needles placed in the tumor are moved by a computerized machine.

Treatment takes about 15 minutes, said Martinez, and leaves no radioactive material in the body.

"In the future of cancer care, less is more," said Martinez. "We want to reduce the amount of radiation to tissues surrounding the prostate, and in doing so, we hope to eliminate side effects and have our patients back to living their lives."

Martinez since has treated four other Michigan men. Men with early- to intermittent-stage prostate cancer are eligible to participate in the study.