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Sorry to hear about your uncle. It is indeed a minefield and there is a good deal of confusion about. If you're uncle is not Internet competent, would you find it useful for him to have a copy of my booklet - A Strange Place? You can download it here STRANGE PLACE and print it for yourself, but it is quite long and I'd be happy to mail him a hard copy if you give me his snail mail address.
The Yana site has a section on BRACHYTHERAPY whhich should give you the basic information you are lokoing for. And in the part of the site where men tell of their experiences you can read about the outome of BRACHYTHERAPY EXPERIENCES. You will see that most of the men give their e-mail addresses so you can communicate with them directly.
God luck and if you have any specificc questions, come back here with them.
Hi Terry,
Thanks..I really appreciate the information and am finding this website an absolutely invaluable tool in finding out information.
Thanks again.
Best regards
Josh
Joshua,
Brachytherapy is used for smaller prostates, under 60mm, and for low and intermediate grade PC, G6 and G7. It may be supplemented with 25 treatments of IMRT.
The prostate can be shrunk about 50% using Casodex and Proscar.
The procedure is less than 1 hour and there is less pain than a biopsy. You can return to all normal activities the next day so it is the most convenient of all the treatment options, it also has the least side affects. Urinary frequency and urgency last from 4 to 12 weeks and are manageble using Flowmax and won't affect anything you want to do. Incontenance is rare, so are bowel problems. There is a low incidence of urinary obstruction. The cure rate is similar to surgery.
I had seed implants 3 months ago and was home within 3 hours of leaving the house; played golf the next day. Had frequency and urgency for about 4 weeks, an irratation, but not a major issue. The procedure and side affects exceeded my expectations.
Be sure the doctors has done at least 500 procedures as skill is critical in both cre rates and side affects. Also make sure the doctor does follow up CT scans in two weeks as a quality control to insure all the seeds are correctly placed and there are no dead spots."Brachytherapy and IMRT" by Dr Michael Datoli is available on Amazon.
JohnT
