Comparison of high-dose proton radiotherapy and brachytherapy in localized prostate cancer: a case-matched analysis.

Purpose: To report a case-matched analysis comparing high-dose external-beam radiation (EBRT) for prostate cancer delivered on Proton Radiation Oncology Group (PROG) 95-09, a randomized trial, with permanent prostate brachytherapy over the same era.

Methods: From 1996 to 1999, 196 patients were accrued to the high-dose arm (79.2 Gray equivalent (GyE) using photons and protons) of PROG 95-09 at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Body mass index and prostate-specific antigen failure following brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer.

Purpose: Increasing body mass index (BMI) is associated with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure after radical prostatectomy and external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). We investigated whether BMI is associated with PSA failure in men treated with brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective analyses were conducted on 374 patients undergoing brachytherapy for stage T1c-T2cNXM0 prostate cancer from 1996-2001.

Prediction of Medicare drug formulary drugs for treatment of overactive bladder.

Purpose: With the establishment and signing into law the Medicare and Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, also known as Medicare Part D, medical costs are expected to soar. In fact, the program is expected to cost more than a trillion dollars through 2015. Establishment of the Medicare Part D drug formulary will allow cost containment but still absorb patient and physician preferences as well as a consideration of efficacy and safety data.

The use of perioperative antibiotics in tonsillectomy: does it decrease morbidity?

Objective: To assess the efficacy of perioperative antibiotics in decreasing post-operative morbidity among patients undergoing tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy.

Design: Meta-analysis based on a structured search of the literature, using MEDLINE and the Cochrane database.

Subjects: Only articles, which included both treatment and control groups, were included in the final analysis.

New life after prostate brachytherapy? Considering the fertile female partner of the brachytherapy patient.

Objectives: To examine several cases of unusual and unexpected pregnancy in the female partners of men treated with brachytherapy for cancer of the prostate.

Patients And Methods: Self-reported pregnancy of partners of patients who had had prostate brachytherapy was assessed. The dosimetry to the testicles and sperm counts were used to examine the feasibility of pregnancy in the partners.