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Tri-Cities Cancer Center Offers Procedure to Reduce Prostate Cancer Treatment Side Effects

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center is proud to share that we are offering a procedure that has been proven to minimize the side effects for prostate cancer patients being treated with radiation therapy.

The procedure involves SpaceOAR® hydrogel, which is an absorbable hydrogel that temporarily creates space between the prostate and the rectum, protecting the rectum from radiation exposure during prostate radiation therapy.

Why Should A Patient Have SpaceOAR Hydrogel?
The goal of radiation therapy is to maximize radiation to the prostate and to avoid radiating surrounding normal tissue. The prostate and rectum are very close and are only naturally separated by a small space. Due to this closeness, prostate radiation therapy can accidentally cause damage to the rectum. SpaceOAR hydrogel is a gel-like material that temporarily moves the rectal wall away from the prostate during radiotherapy. By separating the prostate from the rectum, SpaceOAR hydrogel reduces radiation dose delivered to the rectum and may eliminate or reduce damage to the rectum. It may also allow your doctor to enhance radiation treatment to your prostate to better target the cancer or to reduce the total number of treatment sessions1.

For more information regarding the SpaceOAR procedure, please visit tccancer.org or spaceoar.com.

 

1. Hydrogel Spacer Prospective Multicenter Randomized Controlled Pivotal Trial: Dosimetric and Clinical Effects of Perirectal Spacer Application in Men Undergoing Prostate Image Guided Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. Mariados, Neil et al. International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics , Volume 92 , Issue 5 , 971 – 977