Present Status of Interstitial Irradiation in Managing Prostatic Cancer

Prostatic carcinoma can be divided into four stages as it is seen clinically, as follows: (1) A stage A lesion is occult. (2) A stage B lesion is completely limited to the prostate and is relatively small. (3) A stage C lesion invades the capsule and partially invades the areolar tissue around the prostate itself and around the base of the seminal vesicles, with no evidence of lymph-node or vascular metastases, and includes lesions which are larger than stage B lesions with extensive invasion around the bladder neck and the base of the seminal vesicles, but again with no evidence of distant metastases. (4) A stage D lesion has vascular metastases and lymph-node metastases. This clinical staging, it is to be emphasized, is subject to much correction, since recent studies indicate that approximately 5% of stage A and B lesions have either vascular or lymphatic lesions, that 45% of stage