Today, we have Radiation Oncologist, Dr. James Yu, joining us to talk about radiation therapy for prostate cancer. In today’s episode of the Prostate Health Podcast, we will be focusing on some of the basics of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, and Dr. Yu will also discuss some of the emerging advances in this area. Stay tuned, for more!

Dr. Yu is the Director of Yale Medicine’s Prostate and Genitourinary Cancer Radiotherapy Program. His clinical aim includes treating his patients with state-of-the-art, evidence-based care that takes their values and goals into account as well as their medical condition. Dr. Yu also researches ways to use radiotherapy treatments to improve outcomes for cancer patients, including comparing the effectiveness of new radiation technologies, and how these new technologies are adopted nationally. Be sure to tune in today, to hear what Dr. Yu has to share about the basics of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, and to find out about some of the advances that are emerging in that area. 

Disclaimer: The Prostate Health Podcast is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as medical advice. By listening to the podcast, no physician-patient relationship has been formed. For more information and counseling, you must contact your personal physician or urologist with questions about your unique situation.

Show highlights:

• Dr. Yu explains how radiation therapy works in treating prostate cancer.
• A review of some of the current basic options for treating prostate cancer with radiation.
• Dr. Yu goes through the process of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, starting with external beam radiation therapy. He explains what to expect, in terms of pre-radiation planning, the number of treatments that are involved, and some of the various approaches to the beamed-in radiation.    
• The different types of approaches to radiation, and the number of weeks of treatment they entail for the patient.
• Dr. Yu outlines some of the potential side-effects of external beam radiation therapy.
• Dr. James Yu, together with Dr. Judd Moul, who appeared in episode 2, and Dr. Dan Hamstra, wrote an article that was published in Oncology, in 2017, about whether surgery or radiation is the better treatment for quality-of-life purposes.
• Brachytherapy compared with external beam radiation therapy, as options for the treatment of prostate cancer.
• Dr. Yu describes the process of implanting the seeds for low-dose brachytherapy.
• The rationale behind why hormone therapy, or ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy), is given in conjunction with radiation treatment, and the length of time that someone would need to be on that treatment.
• Dr. Yu explains how he counsels patients in terms of monitoring their PSA following therapy, and what they can expect in watching their PSA.
• What the PSA nadir means, and how a cancer recurrence would be defined after external radiation therapy.
• Dr. Yu explains that everything in prostate cancer is a conversation with the patient.
• Some details about salvage radiation therapy after surgery.
• Some of the advances in radiation treatment for prostate cancer, and what moderate hypofractionation means when compared with the more conventional treatments for prostate cancer.
• About extreme hypofractionation, or SBRT (Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy), for prostate cancer.
• Where we are, currently, with proton therapy as a treatment for prostate cancer, and how proton therapy compares with the conventional radiation treatments for prostate cancer.
• Dr. Yu talks about the Space OAR Hydrogel. He explains how it is administered and how it works in terms of minimizing toxicity.
• Looking at the notion of treating certain patients with metastasis by treating the prostate, or possibly even sites outside of the prostate, in addition to hormone therapy.
• Radiation that was delivered ten or twenty years ago is not the same as the radiation that’s being delivered today. The ability to spare normal tissue has improved a lot. 

Links and resources:

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