Sex after Brachy

Waitman;
You should use a condom for at least 2-3 months after Brachy just to be on the safe side as you may expell a radioactive seed. This is rare and shouldn't hurt anything, but I would play it safe. I think you could have sex within a week or two of Brachy. The Climax is just the same and you do have ejaculate, but not as much.
JT

Dear Waitman:

Specifically in answer to your questions....based on directions from my physicians and my personal experience:

1.  Wait two weeks after brachy before sex.

2.  Wear a condom for two months.

3.  Sex is exactly the same after the brachy except for reduced level of ejaculate...but you should not feel any difference in your experience.

Tudpock (Jim)

I can see a CSI episode now that deals with the clue being a seed found post sex sans condom

"You should use a condom for at least 2-3 months after Brachy just to be on the safe side as you may expell a radioactive seed"

If you have HDR there are no seeds left behind, so no worry about expelling them or migrating to other parts of the body. I had sex two weeks after my HDR and everything was fine but the semen was dark. The darkness went away after about 3 weeks. The volume was down by maybe one-third. I am now about 7 weeks after my HDR was completed.

Richard,
Sex and orgasim are eactly the same as before treatment. Ejaculant is there but in much less quantity.
JT

HDR is a more advanced and refined verson of brachytherapy. It delivers radiation that is more conformal to the cancer and away from the areas that should't be radiated. The catheters are positioned under ct scan before the radiation is given resulting in greater accuracy than the ultrasound guidance of seeds. I understand that ultrasound images can be off several mm which is the difference of a seed toucing the bladder wall or missing a tumour spot entirely.

The HDR dose is given on a dwell time basis. In other words, if in one of the catheters you need twice as much radiation to one spot than another, the after loader leaves the radiation there longer to increase the dose. So within each of the 15 catheters they can deliver different doses every mm or so. This improves the conformal radiation.

Since the radiation doesn't stay in the body it can't mmigrate or change the radiation dose and cloud as happens with the permanent seeds. Over the 90 day period of time that the seeds give off the radiation the body changes quite a bit and as the body changes the seeds may not deliver the radiation in the exact places planned and may radiate places that were not planned. I understand that HDR has far less side effects to the urethea and bowel than seeds.

Several studies have also shown that PCa can be better killed by much higher dose fractions. Thus the HDR delivers more dose in a 30 minute period than can be delivered any other way. A hard quick hit from HDR rather than a low slow dose from the permanent seeds.

The HDR can also be done as salvage wheras you can't reseed the area at a later time. I had the customary 2 HDR sessions and understand that I can have more if need be.

In the end I liked the fact that nothing was left behind and bought in to the better accuracy of delivery. My medical oncologist said it best when he summed it up as..."pemananent seeds was last century....HDR is 21st century treatment". I hope he was right and I hope this helps. If there is more I can help with, I will.