Phase II High Dose Brachytherapy and Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy as Monotherapy in Localized Prostate Cancer

Radiation therapy is an accepted treatment to help manage low and intermediate risk prostate cancer. Radiation therapy can be given using machines that are outside the body (called "image guided external beam radiation therapy") or by brachytherapy, which is a form of radiation therapy where the radiation source is placed directly into the prostate gland near the tumour. The standard or usual treatments for low or intermediate risk prostate cancer are low dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy which involves placing radioactive seeds in the prostate which deliver radiation over several months, image guided external beam radiation therapy (IGRT), or IGRT plus high dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy boost. High Dose-Rate (HDR) brachytherapy is another type of brachytherapy which delivers a high dose of radiation to the tumour over a period of minutes. The radiation is delivered under computer control through flexible needles, which are temporarily inserted into the prostate. This form of radiotherapy targets cancer cells within the prostate gland. HDR brachytherapy is another type of radiotherapy for prostate cancer that has the potential to help target your cancer more accurately while causing fewer side effects compared with standard radiation therapy. HDR brachytherapy is an option for treatment in some hospitals now but the best dose of radiation is still unknown. This study is testing a new dose of radiation for HDR brachytherapy.