A new palladium-based prostate cancer treatment has been shown to deliver a marked improvement in comparison with traditional remedies.

A peer-reviewed 12-year study of brachytherapy using palladium-103 indicates that the treatment is superior to prostatectomy and that "seed therapy" is a viable alternative.

The study concerns the treatment of high- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients, and is published in the latest edition of the journal Brachytherapy.

Medical firm Theragenics found that those high-risk patients treated with "seeding" - a minimally invasive procedure harnessing palladium-103 - had an 88 per cent cure rate, far above the standard 43 per cent cure rate obtained with surgery.

Ms M. Christine Jacobs, president of Theragenics, said that the findings of the study led by Dr Jerrold Sharkey confirmed that "treatment with the TheraSeed device can offer patients a greater chance for a complete life regardless of risk factor".

"This new clinical study, once again, proves the efficacy of brachytherapy and further reinforces the long-term success rates of our TheraSeed (palladium-103) device," she added.

This study retrospectively reviewed data on 1,707 prostate cancer patients, treated from 1992 to 2004, at the Urology Health Centre in the Greater Tampa area in the US.