This forum is for the discussion of anything to do with Prostate Cancer. There are only four rules:
No fundraisers, no commercials (although it is OK to recommend choices of treatment or medical people based on your personal research; invitations to participate in third-party surveys are also acceptable, provided there is no compensation to YANA);
No harvesting e-mail addresses for Spam;
No insults or flaming - be polite and respectful at all times and understand that there may be a variety of points of view, all of which may have some validity;
Opinions are OK, but please provide as much factual evidence as possible for any assertions that you are making
Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your posting privileges.
Since this is an International Forum, please specify your location in your post.
My PCa spread down hill to my urethra, despite bladder and prostate removal. I've suggested treatment with a radioactive wire up my old man. My Oncologist scoffed at first and then said "That's not a bad idea. Let me think about it. I wonder how we can do it?" I don't think it's been done in the UK before. The problem is how to keep the wire in place for a week.
It's a long shot but has anyone any ideas? Maybe heard of it being done for urethral cancer or maybe something in women's plumbing?
There is a type of bracytherapy that uses high intensity seeds that are inserted in the prostate for a few hours. It seems that they could easily be used for uretha cancer.
Thanks for the thought, Frank, but that option has already been raised by me and discarded by my Oncologist. The reason is that the seeds would need to be anchored. When one's bladder and prostate are removed, what's left "floats around" in fibrous tissue. The need is to get the radio isotopes a fixed distance from the problem area, in this case the lining of the urethra. Only a tube or wire filling the urethra seems to fit the bill. My guy has tasked himself with finding a way of holding the thing in place for a week so it neither slides up into the abdominal cavity nor slips out the end of the penis. I'm hoping that it won't be too painful, e.g., clips or staples etc! I think gaffer tape has been ruled out, to...
I think I misused the word seed that implied it is just like regular brachiatherapy. For high dose radiation therapy there are no real seeds (just one "super seed") and the total radiation therapy is done in about 90 minutes. There is nothing left in your body when you leave the hospital at the end of the day. Here is information from the radiation oncology at UCLA site:
1.Intracavitary Implant: an applicator is inserted into a body cavity to reach the tumor. Intracavitary implants are performed in the Brachytherapy Suite in the UCLA clinic on an out-patient basis. Local anesthesia and/or conscious sedation is all that is required.
2.Intraluminal Implant: the catheters are inserted into a "tube" structure such as the bronchus, esophagus, or bile duct. These are treated the same as intracavitary implants on an outpatient basis.
It seems like it would be perfect for urethal cancers
