Are radioisotopes used for prostate cancer?

This page tells you about radioisotopes and prostate cancer. There is information about

What radioisotopes are
Radioisotopes to diagnose prostate cancer
Radioisotopes to treat prostate cancer

Radioisotopes are substances that give off low doses of radiation. Some can be injected into the body as liquids.

Radioisotopes can be used to diagnose prostate cancer that has spread into the bone. They are used in bone scans, where they show up as hot spots in areas of damaged bone.

Radioisotopes can be used in two ways to treat prostate cancer. Tiny radioactive implants can be put into the prostate to give very localized doses of radiotherapy. This is called brachytherapy. Not everyone can have this treatment. It is mostly used for small prostate cancers in men who do not have very high PSA levels in their blood. After this treatment some men have a narrowing of the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis (the urethra). This narrowing is called a stricture. It can cause difficulty in passing urine and some men may need an operation to correct it.

The second way of using radioisotopes as a treatment is for prostate cancer that has spread to the bones. If several areas of bone are affected, radiotherapy can be given to these bones by injecting a small quantity of liquid radioisotope into the bloodstream. The radioisotope finds its way into the bones and gives a localised dose of radiation to the cancer cells there. This can be very effective for pain relief, lasting for several months. But unfortunately it will not get rid of the cancer cells completely.

It is safe for you to be around other people if you have had a bone scan or either of these treatments. The area that the radiation is delivered to is very small. You will not give off enough radiation to harm anyone else.