(OT<<<<<MARY REID) New Radiation Treats Prostate Cancer

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Reported August

2, 2006

New Radiation Treats Prostate

Cancer

By Vivian , Ivanhoe

Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Exposing

cancer patients to unnecessary radiation is one of the drawbacks of using the

therapy to treat tumors. Now, prostate cancer patients can choose a treatment

that exposes them to less radiation.

A new isotope -- a radiation-emitting form of a

chemical element -- is now available to treat prostate cancer. Cesium-131 was

developed by IsoRay, a company based out of Richland, Washington.

This isotope delivers more radiation in a shorter amount of time than other

available isotopes.

Cesium-131 is packed into tiny titanium capsules

that are about the size of a grain of rice. About 100 of these tiny seeds are

implanted around the prostate tumor where they deliver radiation and destroy

cancer cells. The radioactive seed technique is called brachytherapy and has

been around for many years.

" The beauty of this technique for the prostate

cancer patient -- they get their implant in a 45-minute procedure, they leave

the clinic that day, and the next day can get back to a normal life, "

said Swanberg, the executive vice president of IsoRay, today at the

48th Annual Meeting of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Swanberg said new research has shown tumors respond

to radiation treatment within the first 30 or 40 days, and that's why this

treatment is even better with Cesium-131. Its half life is just 9.7 days,

which means in 9.7 days, its radiation output is cut in half. That output is

cut by half again every 9.7 days. In fact, 90 percent of the radiation dose is

delivered in 33 days. So, the radiation leaves the patient's body quicker

than with the radioactive isotopes used before now -- Palladium-103 and

Iodine-125. Iodine-125 takes 204 days to deliver 90 percent of its radiation

while Palladium-103 takes 58 days.

Right now, Cesium-131 is only available to treat

prostate cancer. However, Swanberg said it could be used to treat cancers of

the head, neck, breast, prostate and other organs. The company has not yet

tested the treatment on those cancers in humans, however. " We need to

make sure we can deliver this appropriately, and those are all things we are

looking at right now, " Lori Woods, vice president of IsoRay, said.

Treatment with Cesium-131 will be more expensive

than other brachytherapies, but Woods says most insurance companies will

cover the treatment.

SOURCE: Presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of The

American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Orlando, Fla.,

July 30-August 3, 2006