A recent look at radiation plans for localized prostate cancer found that adjusting standard computer tomography scans worked well. Some patients received plans based on magnetic resonance imaging, which usually uses very tight safety borders. Other patients had their standard scans re-planned to match these tighter borders.
When comparing the radiation doses to healthy tissue, the re-planned scans performed very well. The amount of radiation near the rectum was either the same or better than the magnetic resonance imaging plans. The amount of radiation near the bladder stayed about the same as the standard magnetic resonance imaging approach.
Looking at actual side effects, the re-planned scans showed a big drop in the chance of rectal issues. The chance of bladder problems also dropped, though this change was not large enough to be certain. Overall, making standard scans tighter helped protect healthy organs without losing too much radiation to the tumor.