Clinical and dosimetric analysis of 469 prostate cancer patients treated in France in 2005 by permanent implant brachytherapy using the Iodine 125 seeds IsoSeed Bebig: report to the French Economic committee of health products (C.E.P.S.)

A French decree of February 3. 2005, allowed the Iodine 125 seeds from several companies to be reimbursed after a permanent implantation brachytherapy for a prostate cancer. Within this frame, the French 'Comite economique des produits de sante' (C.E.P.S.; Economic committee for health products) made mandatory the annual writing and publication of a follow-up study with three main aims; make sure that the seeds were used for prostate cancer patients with criteria corresponding to the national recommendations, analyze the quality of the dosimetric data, and report all side effects, complications and possible accidents. We therefore report here a clinical and dosimetric analysis of 469 patient cases treated in France in nine centers in 2005 with the Iodine 125 IsoSeed Bebig. This analysis shows that: 1) The national recommendations for selecting patients for exclusive prostate brachytherapy have been taken into account in 97% of the cases; 2) The dosimetric quality criteria totally fulfilled the recommendations in a large majority of cases; the intra-operative D90 was found to be superior to 145 Gy in 98% of the patients, and the intra-operative V100 was superior to 95% in 96% of the cases; 3) The early toxicity (mainly urinary) was found to be at the lower range of what is reported in the literature, with in particular a retention rate of 2.4%. (authors)