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You say ......He referred me to the grimm study on prostate cancer(poor choice of name for this doc), that is supposedly unbiased, showing this 2 or 3 prong radiation approach is superior to surgery for survival rates and less side effects for all.....
Dr Peter Grimm is well known in the cyberspace discussion groups. He and his partner Dr Blasko specialise in brachytherapy and have long held the view that the results from brachtherapy are superior to any other therapy. Together they have authored many studies to demonstrate this view, which is not universally shared. As you know, there are no definitive studies that demonstrate that brachytherapy, with or without adjuvant therapies, is superior to other therapies. Dr Grimm's site is Prostate Cancer Treatment Center (PCTC).
There is a Radiation Oncology group within a 2-3 hour drive that touts the latest in technology. How much of the following marketing is based on fact how much is hype?
"For more than 40 years the evolution of radiation delivery technologies has been based upon a single objective: maximize the dose to the tumor while minimizing the dose to surrounding normal tissue. Today the most advanced beam technology available is DART using all methods of 4D IG-IMRT and the Dattoli Cancer Center was the first facility in America to offer it to patients.
More patients with prostate cancer have been treated with DART at Dattoli Cancer Center than any other center in the world by fourfold. Moreover, DCC boasts having the most sophisticated technologies to achieve DART, providing every patient with a cutting edge experience.
DART may also referred to as "Smart Beam" technology because of its extraordinary ability to cast thousands of precisely targeted radiation "beamlets" or "microbeams,"on a 360-degree radius, not only into the prostate, plus a carefully delineated margin, but also in escalating doses directly into the tumor(-s) while de-escalating doses to the urethra. A unique treatment blueprint is mapped out in advance for each patient. With computer planning and three-dimensional imaging techniques, it is possible to more accurately deliver radiation to satisfy pre-defined dose specifications to the tumor while avoiding nearby healthy tissue. Thus, the risk of damaging the bowel, bladder, rectum and other organs is significantly reduced. At the same time, the cancer-killing dose of radiation is maximized on the designated target"
