Cancer Care Specialists First in Downstate Illinois to Offer New Spacing Device to Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients
Decatur, IL — Cancer Care Specialists of Illinois is helping to pioneer a new tool proven to protect prostate cancer patients from the negative effects of radiation therapy. Recently, the first patient at CCSI was injected with SpaceOAR® hydrogel, the first FDA cleared spacing device to protect the rectum in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer. SpaceOAR System is intended to temporarily position the anterior rectal wall away from the prostate during radiotherapy for prostate cancer, creating space to protect the rectum from radiation exposure. Cancer Care Specialists of Illinois is the first treatment center in downstate Illinois and one of the first centers nationwide to adopt the advanced technology.
“Providing the best possible treatment to patients is our top priority, which is why we are one of the first centers offering SpaceOAR hydrogel,” said Thomas H. Tarter, MD, PhD, Urologic Oncology – Cancer Care Specialists of IL. “Creating space between the prostate and rectum is an important advance that significantly protects the rectum during radiation treatments, and reduces the likelihood of side effects. Men facing prostate cancer may have some difficult decisions to make, but utilizing SpaceOAR hydrogel during radiation therapy should not be one of them.”
Because of the close proximity of the prostate to the rectum, prostate radiation therapy typically results in some radiation hitting the rectum, which can sometimes cause side effects. The SpaceOAR System creates space and pushes the rectum away from the prostate and the high dose area. Placed through a small needle, the hydrogel is administered as a liquid, but quickly solidifies into a soft gel that expands the space between the prostate and rectum. The hydrogel spacer maintains this space until radiation therapy is complete. The spacer then liquefies and is absorbed and cleared from the body in the patient’s urine.
The SpaceOAR procedure is performed in office by Dr. Tarter at the Cancer Care Center of Decatur. The procedure is available to all Urologic Oncologists, Clinics and Hospitals to protect their patients before undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer at their respective locations.
According to the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer is second only to skin cancer as the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men with an estimated 220,800 new cases and 27,540 deaths in the U.S. in 2015 alone. Worldwide, prostate cancer is expected to grow to 1.7 million new cases and 499,000 deaths by 2030.
FDA clearance was granted following completion of the SpaceOAR System prospective, multicenter, randomized clinical trial. SpaceOAR patients experienced a significant reduction in rectal radiation dose and severity of late rectal toxicity when compared to control patients who did not receive SpaceOAR hydrogel. The full pivotal clinical trial results have been published.