Prostate cancer impacts thousands of men each year.
While prostate cancer is highly treatable, radiation treatment can cause many negative side effects – including a decline in bowel, urinary, and sexual function.
SpaceOAR™ Hydrogel can help protect against negative effects of radiation therapy.
SpaceOAR™ Hydrogel has been clinically shown to help minimize urinary, sexual, and bowel side effects and help protect the quality of life for prostate cancer patients.
What is SpaceOAR™ Hydrogel?
SpaceOAR Hydrogel is an FDA-cleared, absorbable, injectable gel that helps to reduce the radiation dose delivered to the rectum in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, decreasing the likelihood of side effects. With the gel spacer in place, doctors can better target your cancer while still preserving healthy tissue.
In a randomized clinical study, men who underwent radiation therapy without SpaceOAR Hydrogel were eight times more likely to experience a decline in bowel, urinary and sexual function when compared to men who underwent radiation therapy with SpaceOAR Hydrogel.
Why SpaceOAR™ Hydrogel?
Fewer Bowel Complications
Shown reduction in bowel quality of life declines by 70% at median 3 years.1
Fewer Urinary Complications
Shown to reduce the likelihood of urinary quality of life decline by more than 60% at 3 years. 1
Fewer Sexual Complications
SpaceOAR Hydrogel patients who had erections sufficient for intercourse at baseline were 67% more likely to retain sexual function at 3 years.2
How It Works
Step 1
Your doctor will have you lay on your back with your knees at a 90-degree angle in order to clean and disinfect the area
Step 2
Using an ultrasound probe, the doctor will inject the gel between your rectum and prostate.
Step 3
After being placed, the gel helps protect healthy tissue and will gradually be absorbed by the body within 6 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources:
1. Hamstra DA, Mariados N, Sylvester J, et al. Continued benefit to rectal separation for prostate radiation therapy: final results of a phase III trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2017 Apr;97(5):976-85.
2. Hamstra DA, Mariados N, Sylvester J, et al. Sexual quality of life following prostate intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with a rectal/prostate spacer: secondary analysis of a phase 3 trial. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2018 Jan-Feb;8(1):e7-e15.