Second malignancies after prostate brachytherapy: Incidence of bladder and colorectal cancers in patients with 15 years of potential follow-up

Conclusions: There may be an increased but small risk of developing a second malignancy after radiation therapy for prostate cancer. This outcome could be related to radiation carcinogenesis, but more vigilant screening and thorough workup as a result of radiation side effects and predisposing conditions (e.g., genetic and environmental factors) in many of the patients found to have second malignancies likely contributed to the higher number of observed malignancies than expected.