IMRT

I cannot imagine. my radiologist put tattoos on my (3 of them the size of a pencil point or so) to ensure alignment with each visit.

I found placing the gold markers to be easier than the biopsy. It's about the same procedure,but just three quick jabs and done.

They tattoos were placed by the RO during the "simulation" - that is the first CT scan before they create the program for the sessions.

Andrew

They only did 3 small Tats on me for IMRT. I thought internal markers were more for primary treatment such as IGRT where they needed to be more precise. I would also think certain other conditions may dictate one or the other.

Post Edited (Gear) : 2/19/2017 10:15:03 AM (GMT-7)

At John Hopkins, they did not implant any markers, just three 'dot' tattoos.
IMRT (Tomotherapy) 40 treatments, 80g

trailguy said...
...I emptied my bowels and bladder before I did the RT sessions. ...

Maybe the empty bladder recommendation is better for salvage radiation?

This is different than what's commonly recommended for men having primary radiation therapy, for which the bladder needs to be comfortably full at each session. It helps position things predictably and out of harm's way where possible. Have that same comfortably full situation at the CT Planning scan session. An empty bladder can be problematic, as our forum member Purgatory encountered.

They'll give diet suggestions to help with an empty rectum: avoid gassy foods, carbonated beverages, that sort of thing. Stable and predictable is important.

[Edited 2/27: misunderstood trailguy's situation, salvage radiation may have different advice on bladder filling than does primary radiation. Comments modified to (hopefully) reduce offense...]

"...a minor correction..."

Sorry Red, that is not a 'correction'.

My radiation oncologist (Artebury, at Crittenton Cancer Center, now downtown at St Johns) told me to empty my bowels and bladder before the daily treatment. I did that. What I said was what happened to me. It was my personal experience, you were not there, though you would have been welcome company.

Your radiation oncologist may well have given you different instructions.

trailguy said: "… to avoid permanent damage to my eyes, I kept them shut (as much as possible) while under the laser beam grid."

That's interesting. I have never heard of stray radiation from an IMRT beam (I assume that's what he was worrying about?) being a threat to one's vision. I should think the designers of the IMRT treatment would have taken measures to prevent something like that from ever happening, if it even was a possible danger.

It's been about five years since I had IMRT, and while my vision has maybe gotten a little bit worse in that time, I attribute that to normal aging, not to radiation exposure during IMRT.

trailguy, did you ever hear at some point about stray IMRT radiation possibly being a vision hazard?

That's right, trailguy was talking about alignment radiation. My bad.

But, still, isn't Greytech right? It wouldn't seem that radiation during alignment would be a vision hazard.

Graytech -

Thanks. That clarifies it for me.

No upset here guys, just trying to make things clear. Its a science thing.

....... and always with a touch of humor.

I got adjuvant radiation + Leuprolide chemo + surgery right off the bat. When the surgeon went in, he found the cancer was more advanced than it had appeared in the scans (went from (3+4) to (4+3) ). 2 weeks after surgery I got the catheter out and a hit of Firmagon due to a PSA of .2, SV involvement and + margins. I got 3 - 1 month hits of Firmagon before RT. Then I started the adjuvant radiation therapy. The 3 month wait was due to my needing to be continent and the docs wanted the chemo to weaken the cancer. They said it was the standard wait period for this type of therapy.

"Familiarity breeds contempt". That has happened with lasers. Fact: if you shine laser light into your eyes, every cell that it registers on will immediately die, never to be replaced. Your' brain will quickly compensate for the loss and you will not notice right away. As more and more of those cells die, however, your vision will deteriorate. Too much damage and you will be permanently vision impaired.

Yes, even the grocery store laser scanners and those neat little hand-held pointers.

If you do radiation therapy, do not look into the lasers sources, either the generators or the reflective mirrors.

The x-ray beam from the Intensity Moderated Cyber - Knife is "accurate to within 1 millimeter" and is directed where you think it is directed - at your groin, pelvis and lower abdomen - right where any micro - metastases may be. A bank of computers directs the radiation beam (which comes from a dozen x-ray generators) changing its size, shape and intensity to target a 3 - dimensional area in your body. If you look into the business end of the Cyber Knife you will see a bunch of sliding metal shields. Those move in real time to shape the beam as the end moves around your body.

The x-ray beam is very tight and controlled, like a spot light.

Well I finished my 3rd treatment of IMRT today and the only thing I've noticed is that about 2 hours after the treatment my stomach is a little queezy.. Nothing real bad and it goes away just hoping it doesn't get any worse.... Other than that haven't noticed anything. Did anybody else have any issue with your stomach being queezy after treatment??

Thanks
Jay