Prostate cancer treatments are getting increasingly better, and one of the best may be the seeding of the prostate with radioactive pellets, a prostate cancer specialist from the University of Washington said Wednesday.

Dr. John Blasko, a pioneer of the procedure who works in the school’s Seattle Prostate Institute, discussed “brachytherapy” and other treatment options during an evening lecture to more than 350 people at the Bangor Civic Center.

“One of the breakthroughs is controlling the radiation so it is limited to the prostate and doesn’t affect the surrounding organs as much,” he said.

In seeding, doctors use magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound devices to guide needles into the prostate, a structure that produces a fluid that is part of semen. Once inside the prostate, a gland that surrounds the urethra and which can interfere with urination if it becomes enlarged, the needles deposit 50 to 100 radioactive seeds.

About the size of a quarter-inch-long piece of pencil lead, each seed emits localized radiation to fight cancer for months before becoming inert, Blasko said.

Blasko gave detailed explanations of studies showing how the procedure’s more than 10-year history has helped men survive cancer. Because data come from different medical groups, there are concerns about comparing results, he said. Still, he believes the localized treatment, which puts more radiation on target than some other delivery mechanisms, is a good choice for some men.

“We have less urination trouble than we do with surgery, and we have less rectal trouble than with external beam radiation,” he said.

The procedure takes only a couple of hours with mild anesthesia. In a couple of days patients are usually back to regular daily living, Blasko said.

Among cancers, prostate is second only to lung cancer as a killer of men in the United States. The American Cancer Society projects 31,500 men will die of the disease this year.

Maine’s death rate is high compared to other states. Maine had the third-highest death rate from prostate cancer from 1987 to 1996, according to data from Maine’s Bureau of Health. During that period, 1,766 Maine residents died from the disease.

One regional champion of seeding has been Galen L. Cole, the retired president of Coles Express, a trucking firm. Four years ago, Cole publicly bemoaned the fact that the procedure he believed to be beneficial wasn’t available locally.

Wednesday, before Blasko’s talk, Cole and his wife were recognized for their leadership in getting the new service in Bangor. Cole announced in an op-ed column in the Bangor Daily News earlier this week that he was recently declared cancer-free after an eight year battle with prostate cancer.

When Cole first championed the procedure, there were medical skeptics. Wednesday night Blasko said there are still detractors on the procedure in the medical community. He pointed to three major medical societies that reject early screening, which could allow more early interventions such as seeding, and three societies that promote it.

Blasko believes some of the skepticism is rooted in old notions and old outcome data. He explained that detractors argue that “many men will die with the disease, not of it.”

Blasko noted that technological advances in the placement of seeds with guidance systems – unavailable when the procedure was first tried in the late 1960s – make the placement of the cancer-fighting radiation more precise. A new national study of the procedure is under way, he said.

Despite the critics, Blasko said his message Wednesday was for men who are 50 and older to get annual “prostate specific antigen” blood tests, or PSAs. Those with a family history of prostate cancer and black men, who have a higher incidence of the cancer, should probably get the yearly test beginning at age 40, he said.

“There’s a revolution of treatment that’s going on and it all hinges on early detection,” Blasko said. “Clearly you want to get this cancer early. If you wait, your chances decrease.”

Blasko showed that in the three major treatment options – seeding, external beam radiation and surgery – more than nine in 10 patients survive the cancer. The numbers decrease as the PSA counts rise, which often come with a spread of the cancer to other tissues and organs.

“Get diagnosed early,” Blasko said. “Get PSA screening because if you get diagnosed early you have all these choices. If you’re not diagnosed early these choices will close down on you.”