Prostate Seed Implants involve the placement of many tiny radioactive particles into the prostate to treat cancer. Prostate seeds implants can be used as the definitive therapy (i.e., all the therapy that is needed) for some prostate cancer cases, or can be combined with a course of daily radiation treatments.
Each radioactive particle is tiny, even smaller than a grain of rice, and will remain radioactive for a limited time until it dissolves. The prostate seed implant is performed in the operating room with your urologist. Most patients go home later that day. Many men like this treatment because it is very well tolerated and is completed in a single day. Our physics and dosimetry staff who perform CT-based dosimetry on every implant back up our prostate seed implants. This is an important part of our quality assurance program, and allows our physicians to ensure that the prostate cancer has been sufficiently treated but that normal tissues are effectively spared.