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I underwent proton radiation for PCa two years ago. Thus far I have experienced no adverse side effects: no bleeding, no incontinence and no impotence.
Photographs taken during a recent colonoscopy showed the blood vessels in the vicinity of my prostate had changed substantially. The post-radiation blood vessels are red, dense and large. By comparison the pre-radiation blood vessels are small, pinkish and much less noticable. My attending physician characterized the current condition as permanent damage and a common consequence of radiation. He advised me that some of his patients experience bleeding from such damage that may or may not require further medical intervention (e.g., cauterization). He expected no further complications in my case inasmuch as I have been problem free for two years. He expected little change to occur prior to my next regularly scheduled exam in 2016 i.e, neither improvement nor deterioration. Marckini refers to this phenominon as neovascularization, a "self-limiting" condition that "almost always goes away in a few months". In another venue I saw this condition referred to as "irritation".
Whether temporary or permant, an irritant or otherwise, I would like to offer the participants on this site an opportunity to weigh in on this subject. I am especially interested in long term implication if any.
Aloha Don,
It does not matter what type of EBRT (or seeds) was used, all radiation does cause damage to healthy tissue. Whether or not the healthy tissue can recover depends on the dose it received. Radiation treatment is "designed" to specifically deliver a sufficient dose to the PCa to do as much damage to the cancer cells without delivering so much dose to healthy cells that the health cells can't recover. In many cases, the healthy cells get too much and can't recover. Very much like pushing the envelope a bit too far. Before treatment I very much believed what I was told, "healthy cells will recover".
As you read the stories on this site, you see that healthy cells do not always recover. You were lucky to only have minor damage, and I hope that in the future you will not notice any further damage. Many do have serious damage that shows up years after treatment.
My healthy cells took 2.5 years after treatment to begin to disintegrate. From April 2010 to March 2011 the bleeding, clots (& Pain) got pretty bad. In Oct 2010 we decided to have Suprapubic catheter procedure, which bypasses the urethra, hopefully giving the urethra a chance to heal. In this case it continued to get worse. The doc only gave me one choice, a uro-ostomy (to bypass the damage to the bladder and urethra). I feel fortunate that men on this site suggested that I look into HBOT. The doc agreed and wrote a prescription. I started mild home HBOT in Jan 2011 and the open wound in my urethra began to show signs of healing after 3 months of 2 hours/day treatment.
I am gaining more and more confidence that this treatment is working. I've cut back on the hours spent in the chamber. Blood, clots, & pain only occur now when I have a UTI, and only for a couple of days. Unfortunately I am getting UTI's several times/month.
So far this mild HBOT has not shown any improvement to the damaged rectum & anus.
Joe
i am going to have radiation therapy soon but my brother had external beam and he kept on jogging hes a runner had no side effects thats 2 years down the road john q
Bear in mind that it takes years, usually over ten (but five in my case) for collateral damage to become evident. I've seen the "burn" marks in my bladder and I'm told there is likely to be fibrous tissue where the prostate and rectum meet.
EBRT is still worth doing though. Despite it causing bladder cancer in my (or so I believe) I wouldn't have changed the treatment. It helped keep advanced cancer under control for five years and counting.
