There are many medical centers in this country trying all manner of techniques, sometimes one after another, in a desperate attempt to buy time or cure prostate cancer that has come back after treatment. Some men whose prostate cancer returns after getting radioactive seeds go on to have what’s called “salvage” therapy. This can include having a radical prostatectomy and orchiectomy (castration, removal of the testes), or undergoing other radiation treatment—getting more seeds, or having external-beam therapy.
These men are more likely to have complications. Understandably, operating on a prostate whose tissue has been damaged by radiation seeds is going to be more difficult than operating on an otherwise healthy prostate with just a bit of cancer. And in the medical literature there is no good evidence that salvage radical prostatectomy is actually curing many patients.
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