New product ensures organs at risk from radiation are protected
Through a new technique and medical product a Munson Medical Center radiation oncologist helps ensure prostate cancer patients experience fewer side effects.
Radiation Oncologist Douglas Brown, M.D., said he recently began using the SpaceOAR™ Hydrogel System on qualifying patients. The hydrogel reduces the risk of rectal injury in men receiving prostate cancer therapy whose treatment involves high doses of external beam radiation.
The “OAR” in SpaceOAR stands for “Organs at Risk.” The patient’s prostate gland is typically within a couple millimeters of the rectal wall and is considered the organ at risk. External beam radiation therapy results in some dose to the rectum and as a result the treatments can potentially cause rectal injury. It is vitally important to protect the rectum. The specially formulated hydrogel acts as a spacer to push the rectum away from the prostate, removing the rectum from the high dose cloud of radiation.
“In a minor procedure that takes about 10 minutes, we can infiltrate the space between the rectum and prostate with the hydrogel liquid which then gels to a semi-solid spacer within a few seconds,” Dr. Brown said. “The hydrogel separates the rectal wall from the prostate and reduces the risk of rectal injury to less than 1 percent. This is a great benefit to the patient.”
Injected via a needle directed between the rectum and prostate using ultrasound guidance, the hydrogel lasts about six months and then is completely reabsorbed by the body.
During clinical trials, use of the SpaceOAR hydrogel reduced the amount of high-dose radiation by 73 percent. Trials also showed 76 percent less rectal pain during radiation treatment, 71 percent less rectal complications 15 months after treatment, and a 46 percent reduction in patients experiencing bowel issues one year following radiation treatment.
Typically patients who receive the hydrogel wait about one week and then receive an MRI and CT scan to help the radiation oncologist design the radiation therapy treatment fields. Most patients receive 6 - 8 weeks of treatment.
“The first couple of patients that received the hydrogel placement here at Munson have had no significant acute radiation side effects,” Dr. Brown said.
As one of those patients, John R. King of Cedar said he is grateful the product was recommended by Dr. Brown. “When I got my radiation, I had no problems,” he said. “As far as I was concerned it was OK. It works; there were no after-effects, no nothing.”
The treatment is often an equal alternative to radical prostate removal. Dr. Brown encourages patients to be counseled by a radiation oncologist, urologist, and their primary care physicians regarding treatment options.
“It is important that all prostate cancer patients be evaluated by radiation therapy,” he said. “Forty to 50 percent of the patient’s here at Munson Medical Center could potentially benefit from this therapy.”