HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Who has had Brachytherapy and what side effects?

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
1 2
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/18/2008 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you Johnny. I'm not telling him about the tattoo :-) Already bought the ring, a nice cushy one as it had a bigger ring than the rubber ones. All medical doctors are bemused by these meds but I'd wager to say you'd see them in their cabinents if it helped them. I still have to get the Omega 3, I'll check out that brand. He's having 100 I-125 seeds implanted as his prostate is 38cc and they interlock like a lego.
Posted 7/20/2008 6:03 AM (GMT 0)

just al said...
I began using the fish oil 4 months after the procedure. Zyflamed arrived by mail order, and I started using that also about 2 weeks after the fish oil course began. The effect of using Zyflamed appeared to be marginal. It's hard to say what the effect might have been if used exclusively. It's also unknown whether the fish oil would have the same impact, if I had used it immediately after the procedure. It would appear that inflammation can affect both the prostate itself and the seminal vessels.


So where did you hear about these supplements? I'm interested...
Posted 7/20/2008 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
From Johnny Canuck - Regular member

Posted 7/21/2008 12:11 AM (GMT 0)
All in all a very interesting thread, and I dont think anyone knows exactly what will be YOUR outcome. I can only say that we have been in this battle for over eight years. Pete had the seeds, and external radiation and lupron for one year...psa 16 gleason 3+4 T2 ....After five years, we were so happy! It seemed as though it had worked!! We even drank a glass of champagne on New Years 2006 His erections were starting to come back!! Yea...!!....However, His PSA began to rise....if the PSA begins to rise...therein lies the rub....The only thing to do is SALVAGE SURGERY or HT.......

We decided on SALVAGE SURGERY at Sloan Kettering....A difficult choice after radiation. We were told of the possible SEs. ....Well, it has been a difficult, to say the least, trip. Because of the radiation he did not heal...and got a fistula...a hole between the rectum and the bladder...More surgery to fix that...catheter for One Year...several strictures, and trips to the ER and cystoscopies one after the other....Very difficult...this happened to a very healthy man that was fishing and hiking and having a great time after the brachy... and even after the salvage surgery, the PSA rose....So, even then they did not get it.....HT is now in the cards....Who knows what the answer is...Unfortunately, the doctors don't really know...They can only guess with fancy Partin tables et al...You can't regret what you chose...That is the hardest part....You have to move on and talk to others and hopefully you will get better...Keep positive and hopefully you have a wife that is loving and understands. We have told our sons, who are in their thirties, to be vigilant and to have PSAs...for a guide line...when they turn 40. Good luck to everyone that has had either of these treatments. They both have their good and difficult points. Peace and love, Di
Posted 7/21/2008 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
We're in the Brachytherapy camp with little to no side effects other than fatigue.  My husband's back to his old crazy self.  We stand by our decision and have never looked back.

 

Posted 7/21/2008 8:38 PM (GMT 0)
My husband made his decision and we aren't looking back after the 23rd. I wish I could bottle his attitude and send it on, he's amazing. To him it's like "Prostate Cancer? Well let's deal with it so I can move on" He's looking at new cars and planning on taking the grandkids to Disney World again next year since we had so much fun last November. We took the kids to a carnival Saturday night and everyone that knows him asked me if I was postive he was ill because he sure doesn't look or act it. Last night he's talking about working for 10 to 12 yrs more so he gets more in his pension. There's only the future to him, no past or present to dwell on. He says we all have to die of something and he's not going to sit around and wait for it he's going to keep moving. All this and he knows I'm going in for a surgical breast biopsy on the 4th to see what's going on there. We'll deal with that to and move on. He makes it so I'm not even worried about it. Sometimes I wish he would take it just a lttle more seriously but than I think that might be worse.
Posted 2/3/2009 6:13 AM (GMT 0)
 

My father underwent Brachytherapy treatment at a major research hospital in Wisconsin.

It's been about 10 years now.  No cancer.  The problem is that the radiation seems to have destroyed most of that region of his body.  An anal fistula developed - basically a hole between the rectum and the urinary tract.   So feces came out his penis and urine out his rectum.   He goes back in, and I understand that the doctors look at each other and say "another one".  But it does not seem to be something that is talked about.

I would strongly advise investigating this potential problem before choosing brachytherapy.

 

Edited ~ TC-LasVegas

     Email Address ~ Please post your Email address in your profile and not on the board.

 

Post Edited By Moderator (TC-LasVegas) : 2/2/2009 11:36:01 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/3/2009 6:58 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Networked,
Posting your full name email address and what looks like a company name, is not allowed on this board.  Sorry to remove the address. Your story is interesting in that these side effects are rarely talked about.  Most of the brachy guys at ten years do well.  To have two fistulas?  That is terrible luck.  What were your father's biopsy pathology results?  Did he have supplimental beam radiation?

Tony

Posted 2/3/2009 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
He did not have follow up beam therapy.

Cancer is not the problem after 10 years. Obviously that's a good thing. I'm checking on that 10-year-old biopsy data.

Are fistulas really that rare? See posting by Divo.

He did get diagosed with MSA (Multiple System Atrophy) a few years later. This should be of unrelated aetiology though to brachytherapy or to fistula development shouldn't it?


(I really don't know a lot about this. But there is some early indication that MSA may be a prion disease in some cases. See:

"Multiple system atrophy is associated with the prion protein codon 129 genotype

C. Shibao (1), E. M. Garland (1), A. Gamboa (1), C. L. Vnencak-Jones (2), V. M. Woeltz (3), J. L. Haines (4), I. Biaggioni (1) out of Vanderbilt" )
Posted 2/3/2009 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
I can't answer that. I don't know MSA well enough. It is entirely possible that it could complicate brachytherapy. I would ask the doctors. That stated, Mark, did you have your PSA tested. There is no doubt that PCa is hereditary!

Do you know your fathers Gleason score and PSA's?

Tony
Posted 2/3/2009 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
My husband has chosen brachytherapy so I'm glad to find this thread. He isn't a candidate for surgery because of his Multiple Sclerosis and External Beam Radiation is not a good option because of distance away from therapy.

I'm not happy to read about fistulas, etc. Sounds scary.
Posted 2/6/2009 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
How does fish oil help with the after prostrate surgery? I take it normally due to working out.
Posted 2/6/2009 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
On the issue of fistulas in brachytherapy:

I decided that my experience with an N of 1 wasn't very scientific. Everyone I was talking to was saying that the risk of fistula is rare.

I took a look at the literature that I could find. It's pretty clear that incidence of fistula in the first two years IS pretty low - about 1%. These studies look at only the first few years because it's assumed that since the seed radiation is decaying, that the risk of fistula would reduce over time. However my Dad's fistula didn't appear until 10 years later.

I could only find one study - a 2001 report based on fistula data to 14 years after surgery. But it wasn't online so I don't know the results. Is the long-term scientific data out there somewhere?
Posted 2/7/2009 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
I really believe that Peter's fistula came in the ER room when he had a urinary constriction a few weeks after the salvage surgery.....There was a male nurse that did not realize that he had a sling in place and also had had radiation earlier. The combination of all the scar tissue and the constriction caused the nurse to push the catheter in too hard in the wrong place......We all need to be aware of circumstances like this... Only have a urologist put in a catheter if you have had any surgery...... By the way, I had asked Dr. Eastham before the surgery about the % of fistulas...(because I had read of them)...He said 2%......I have since found lately that that has risen to almost 10% in salvage surgeries.....D
Posted 2/7/2009 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
We had this experience with extremely difficult catheterization because of the scar tissue in the prostate recently. The fistula was definitely there beforehand in our case (that's why he needed surgery).

At this major center in Wisconsin they were sort of - just- able to get it catheterized with a team of doctors and special equipment. The first nurse that tried it was crying because she couldn't do it

I'm not sure how to make it clear to the staff before surgery how difficult catheterization will be.

Had they not been able to accomplish it, the only alternative would have been more surgery to bypass the bladder.

My thanks to the team at this hospital that was able to do it.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12