Brachytherapy, a non surgical procedure for the treatment of prostate cancer, will be performed free of charge at the Oncology Centre which is now under construction, Health Minister John Rahael has said.

Prostrate cancer is one of the leading causes of death among men in Trinidad.

Rahael told the Express:"The object of having an oncology centre is to treat patients suffering with a wide range of cancer diseases and this will include the treatment of prostate cancer using the brachytherapy method."

The centre is expected to be ready in 24 months, he said.

He explained that the service, like all other cancer treatments, will depend on the availability of medical personnel trained to perform these procedures. (See page 31)

Rahael was responding to a call by consultant urologist Dr Lall Sawh for the inclusion of brachytherapy to be performed free of charge at public hospitals

Sawh made the call at the Second Regional Prostate Brachytherapy Update, held last Sunday at Kapok Hotel in Port of Spain.

He said an average of 500 patients a year in Trinidad were in need of treatment for prostate cancer, and those in the early stages of the disease will qualify for brachytherapy.

Sawh explained that brachytherapy was a procedure that did not include surgical intervention.

But he said "if the cancer is in the late stages the patient will need surgery".

He said brachytherapy was introduced into Trinidad in 2003 and since then more than 300 patients have opted for the treatment.

"It is a same day procedure and the patient can return to his job the next day."

Sawh emphasised that the treatment would in no way affect the patient's sex life.

During Sunday's update, questions were raised concerning the amount of radiation the patient would be exposed to from the idiodine seeds which are planted into the patients' prostate during brachytherapy.

Dr Thomas Shanahan, Radiation Oncologist attached to the Department of Oncology at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, USA, dispelled fears of excessive radiation, saying that "the level of radiation one receives while walking in the sun is greater than the iodine seeds that are planted in the prostate".

Shanahan said over the last year, the price of the seeds, the most important item in the procedure, have been reduced considerably in the United States.

"This is probably the best time for Government to begin the procedure at the expense of the State, in public institutions," he said.