UroToday.com - Currently, the most common curative treatment options for men with localized (stage T1-2) prostate cancer are external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), interstitial permanent brachytherapy (BT) and radical prostatectomy. A number of series published equivalent outcomes concerning biochemical recurrence rates. Therefore, treatment decisions should particularly consider the specific risk and toxicity profile of a treatment method.

Several reports have already compared toxicities after EBRT and BT. However, methodical problems remain with often retrospective data, missing health-related quality of life (HRQOL) results and consistent differences concerning baseline patient characteristics. Generally, patients receiving BT are of younger ages. The patient age has a large impact both on the pre-treatment sexual function and a treatment-associated erectile dysfunction - well explaining better results after BT in comparison to EBRT…