Postoperative Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a common problem for US men. Once patients are initially diagnosed, they are often treated with either surgery or radiation therapy. For those whose initial treatment is radical prostatectomy, recurrences of cancer can be detected at an early stage by monitoring the blood levels of prostatic specific antigen (PSA). Once the PSA level becomes detectable, radiation therapy delivered to the pelvic area can often completely eradicate the cancer that is the source of the PSA. Radiation therapy is delivered in a highly focused manner, treating the prostate bed (and sometimes nearby lymphatic drainage sites), and the treatment is associated with minimal side effects.