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Brachytherapy Improves PFS and Is Cost-Effective in Prostate Cancer, Study Reports
While brachytherapy improved progression-free survival in men with prostate cancer, compared with traditional readiotherapy, the study found that overall survival was not very different between the 2 groups.
A prostate cancer treatment using permanently implanted radioactive “seeds” doubles rates of 5-year tumour-free survival compared with conventional high-dose radiotherapy, a study has found.
Low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy (LDR-PB) involves the insertion of tiny radioactive implants into the prostate gland. A trial comparing the treatment with dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy found that it was much more successful at banishing cancer. Men who underwent LDR-PB were twice as likely to be cancer-free 5 years later. Scientists studied 398 men with cancer that had not spread outside the prostate gland who were judged to be at high risk of treatment failure based on standard test results.
Lead researcher Professor James Morris, from Vancouver Cancer Centre in Canada, said: “At five years follow-up, we saw a large advantage in progression-free survival in the LDR-PB group.
Link to the complete article on The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1EciTDF
Varied Access: The Pharmacogenetic Testing Coverage Divide
February 18th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the February 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to uncover significant differences in coverage decisions for pharmacogenetic tests across major US health insurers.
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STEER Data Open Door to SMA Gene Therapy for Wider Age Range of Children
March 19th 2025Delivery of onasemnogene abeparvovec into the intrathecal space was safe and effective for children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) aged 2 to 17 years, who had previously been shut out of receiving gene therapy.
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