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Biotech / Medical : CYTO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sector Investor who wrote (7941)	9/19/2000 12:41:01 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8116

Prostate Carcinoma: Increased Use of Brachytherapy A review of 435,264 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1992 and 1996 and reported by 1,758 hospitals indicated that the increasing use of brachytherapy for the treatment of AJCC stage I and II cases is a nationally significant trend most evident among stage I patients. The total number of stage I and II patients reportedly treated with brachytherapy was 7,226. These patients constituted 43.9% (stage I) and 52.3% (stage II) of all patients treated with brachytherapy.16 Over the five years reviewed, there was evidence of a progressive decline in the proportion of men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, AJCC stages III and IV, falling from 25.5% in 1992 to 20% in 1996. Concurrent with this pattern of diagnosis at earlier stages was a marked increase in the proportion of patients diagnosed at younger ages (younger than 60), climbing from almost 9% to 17% of reported cases over five years. The mean age of men reported as diagnosed in 1992 was 70.7 years, falling to 68.6 years in 1996. The proportion of prostate cases treated with brachytherapy increased from 1.4% in 1992 to 3% in 1996. Of those receiving brachytherapy, 44% (3,298) were diagnosed with AJCC stage I disease and 52.3% (3,928) were diagnosed with AJCC stage II disease. However, as a proportion of the total number of cases within each stage group, brachytherapy was used more frequently among AJCC stage I patients. In 1992, 2% of stage I patients and 1.5% of stage II patients received brachytherapy, whereas by 1996, the difference was more pronounced: 5.8% of stage I patients and 2.7% of stage II opted to undergo brachytherapy. The use of brachytherapy among patients with AJCC stage I disease was predominantly applied for patients with well- (20.3%) or moderately (69.5%) differentiated tumors. Brachytherapy was administered broadly in patients of all ages, though with slightly higher frequency among patients between the ages of 70 and 74 years of age. The proportion of hospitals reporting prostate cases treated by brachytherapy to the NCDB doubled over the period reviewed, increasing from 13.2% in 1992 to 25.2% in 1996. ca-journal.org Jim