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Interesting British abstract about pelvic radiation and gastro issues

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Posted 6/14/2014 3:07 AM (GMT 0)
Thought this was a good read:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1774900/

 

Posted 6/15/2014 5:23 AM (GMT 0)
x

bumped it, no one found this of interest, know other's here have had radiation damage issues via SRT
Posted 6/15/2014 3:26 PM (GMT 0)
Read and hope this is not also true with BT!
Posted 6/15/2014 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
Considering I've just had a RP and got told their is cancer left behind on the bladder and rectal walls I found this interesting.

The next step for me is RT. This makes me think I should hold off till the HT fails to get RT just to avoid the side effects as long as possible.
Posted 6/15/2014 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
Very interesting read!

I was reading something about HCL with pepsin and ran across something that disclosed pretty much the same symptoms you are experiencing.

It wasn't HCL directly related and for the life of me I can't remember what it was. Will see if I can go back and find it, as I wanted to mention it to you.
Posted 6/16/2014 8:28 AM (GMT 0)
Troubling read as I am 10 days into a 33 day course of SRT, and sufferer some bowel symptoms
Posted 6/16/2014 10:46 AM (GMT 0)
David.
Yes interesting, however I note that it is a paper from 2005, so I wonder what the current state of play is in relation to acknowledging, recognising, researching, understanding and treating the problem.

It has always seemed to me that PCa has an added problem in that compared to many other cancers the time scale is so very different.
Historically I think that people who had many other types of cancer has died before they could live long enough to find themselves suffering from conditions that were caused by their treatment. Changes t the way patients are treated means they are now surviving far longer amd this lng enough to develope such problems, and are showing up in increasing numbers and at a faster rate than the follow-up treatment and research can keep up.

I suffer from frequent and irregular BMs, perhaps as many as 5 a day, and most annoying is the way this impacts on my QOL as I often go for hours with the sensation that "In about ten minutes I shall need to have a BM", and even if I go I am left with the sensation that I have not emptied things. (My rectum is thus behaving exactly like an oversensitive bladder.)
My RT docs and I feel that this is as a result of my SRT, but no solution has ever been suggested: it is just felt to be something I have to live with.

For me the crucial thing is to prevent it getting worse, and again I'm not sure how to do that.

So I shall continue to look for ways and means.

Alf
Posted 6/16/2014 1:06 PM (GMT 0)
Alf, I realize it was "dated" a bit, but radiation has been around for many decades, and radiation damage, in my opinion, is often downplayed and avoided by many RO's.

Being that my entire life has been changed by flawed radiation, let alone damage by normal radiation, its a subject I will always be sensitive to.

Trouble with radiation, not all damage is so severe and immediate as mine, but it can creep into men's lives even years later, and some won't make the connection to their former radiation due to the passage of time.

More research, as the article suggests, is warranted.

David
Posted 6/16/2014 3:52 PM (GMT 0)
David
What was the cause of your bad SRT experience?
I'm very concerned about SRT SEs now that I'm at number 9 of 38 sessions of IMRT at 68.2 Grays to prostate bed. I'm having frequent BMs already and " roids" are really flaring up due to frequency. I'm very careful at having 16 ounces of liquid in my bladder before each session and lying perfectly still for the 15 minutes usually required. When I was being scanned for simulation to place my " marks", the techs were really careful about the state of my GI tract. I had to wait til my bladder was filled adequately and also when I had too much gas in my tract they told me to take a walk and pass some gas then come back.
I'm a huge fan of salads but I may have to cut back. I'm also a big white wine drinker. I suspect this is not helpful either.
The thought of having loose bowels for the rest of my life is not comforting; I hope all this is temporary!
Bob
Posted 6/17/2014 10:11 AM (GMT 0)
David.

I was really pleased to find this...

I think this recent article indicates substantial progress for PCa guys receiving RT when it comes to trying not to damage their rectums (study submitted October 2013 and accepted April 2014):

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4016630/#__ffn_sectitle

It seems like the rectum can be protected if a bit of a special "PEG" absorbable gel is injected into the gap between the rectal wall and the prostate prior to doing IMRT.

The gel is put there before they do the scan and says there during the RT, but then disappears later.

I'm also pleased to note that two of the docs who worked on this study (Baukelien van Triest and Robin Kalisvaart) are from the RT department of the hospital in Amsterdam where I had my SRT - indeed Robin is my actual RT doc and Baukelien sat in on the group that planned my SRT and I've also had check-ups with her.

I would imagine that as the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at John Hopkins was also involved in the study that relevant docs etc in the USA are also aware of this or soon will be.

As is so often the case, it may not be much good for those already suffering side effects of RT near the rectum, but it seems like good news for those who will be treated in the future.

Alf
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