The procedure

The prostate brachytherapy procedure
The prostate brachytherapy procedure is when the radioactive seeds are implanted into your prostate gland under a general anaesthetic, in our operating theatre.

Your appointment for your prostate brachytherapy procedure is normally about 3 weeks after your last ultrasound scan.

You will be admitted to hospital for the day or over night.

The procedure takes about 40 minutes. Afterwards you will spend about an hour in the recovery room recovering from the effects of the anaesthetic before returning to the ward. You will then be discharged from the hospital (either later that day or the following morning).

The day before the seeds are implanted
You will need to take a bowel preparation to empty your bowels. If your bowels are not empty the ultrasound scan pictures of the prostate during the procedure may not be clear. You will be sent a sachet of a powdered bowel preparation called Picolax. After mixing the contents of the sachet with water, drink the bowel preparation on the day before you come to the Centre for the prostate brachytherapy procedure. It is important that you drink plenty of water both the day before and for at least 48 hours after the procedure to make sure you keep yourself hydrated.