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Re: Followup ? Long term side effects of radiation( EBT v. Brach)
Jeff modern EBRT particularly with gold seed markers is now accurate to within 1cm of the prostate, even taking into account positional variations, which can be substantial. Thus confining the beam to the target area with only minimal spillover to other organs, should lead to a substantial decline in long term radiation problems.
3D Conformal ERBT has only been around for about 5 years in Australia, so long term data (15 years) is not available. But short term data thus far is encouraging. No doubt most of us would like long term data to be favorable, prior to making a treatment decision. Ah the fun of playing Russian Roulette, LOL.
Re: Followup ? Long term side effects of radiation( EBT v. Brach)
Jeff,
I had 45 sessions of IMRT this past winter and recieved a relatively high dose of radiation (8100 cGy).
The radiation was guided by gold seed implants which makes it very accurate.
There were very minor side effects toward the end of the treatment but they all disappeared within a few weeks and there have been no lingering problems.
I read a study that said theoretically, there is a risk of secondary cancers to adjacent organs 10-15 years down the road.
This is because of the high dosage.
You have to balance that against the fact that higher doses are more effective toward eradicating the tumor you already have.
The only organs I would be concerned about are the bladder and bowel.
The kidneys are too far from the prostate to be affected by radiotherapy.
I would expect brachy to be less likely to irradiate adjacent organs since the radiation field is very localized.
Studies indicate that this risk of secondary cancer is in the range of about 1%.
The first order of business is to still be alive 10-15 years from now.
Then I'll worry about that 1%.
Re: Re: Followup ? Long term side effects of radiation( EBT v. Brach)
Here is a very unsual side effect of EBRT.A man had RT about two years ago. There were no side effects until three months ago when he started suffering excruciating pain in the area of the anus and penis. He is in so much pain that he is now using pain patches. The experts think that the pain that he is experiencing around the penis could be from a boil type sore on what remains of the prostate. They have no idea why after almost two years, there is so much pain around the anus. He is now undergoing treatment in a pressure tank and is desperately hoping that a solution can be found. He is 60 years old.
Re: Followup ? Long term side effects of radiation( EBT v. Brach)
I came off of 40 sessions of IMRT/IGRT six weeks ago. I still have chronic rectal pain, that began about halfway through my treatments. The doc tells me that this should go away but I feel no improvement. Three months ago, befoRe I began treatment I felt fine. I am now wondering why I chose IMRT/IGRT -- it seems so many men who go this route have never ending problems. Has anyone here gone though this problem and how long did it last? Feel free to e-mail me.
Re: Followup ? Long term side effects of radiation( EBT v. Brach)
Aloha Jeff,
My EBRT was from Sept 4 to Oct 26, 2007.
I don't know how many of my comments you have read, but if your GS is 8-9, all biopsy samples have cancer, some up to 70% cancer, PSA 10-12, you should consider that cancer has spread outside the prostate, even though undetected by MRI, CAT, & bone scan. In the past five years, with EBRT, the first half of 39-40 sessions, will target the pelvic cavity, avoiding the bladder and minimizing damage to gut & rectal. The second part of EBRT uses ultra-sound to define where the bladder & prostate are located, and the EBRT machine is focused on the prostate. It uses three shutters (mine did) to control the beam size, my shutter opening looked like a 1 cm sided triangle.
Because I had bad hemorrhoids going into rd tx, it was difficult. Then after waiting the recommended three months, I had hemorrhoid surgery & PPK Feb 5 2008. I needed the surgery badly, but now, I need toilet access at all times. It is very-very slowly getting better.
Joe
