EBRT

Survival depends on your risk level. It would help if you'd add a signature with those details.

There are a few different kinds of EBRT - (SBRT, IMRT and IMPT). I had SBRT 4 1/2 years ago for low risk PC. There were 5 treatments that took about 5 minutes each. I kept working, running and going to the gym throughout. The treatments were a big nothing.

There were some transient irritative side effects from the inflammatory reaction. They went away within a couple of weeks. I had a return of those urinary symptoms about a year later, which also resolved on their own. I had no sexual side effects, except the loss of ejaculate.

If you're going to have EBRT, I recommend you talk to an SBRT specialist.

Joey,

Is there a reason why you are not considering Active Surveillance? As Tall Allen has stated in the past, he would have chosen AS if he had been diagnosed with PCa now as opposed to several years ago when AS was not studied as seriously as now.

Joey....

I'd like to hear your answer on this as well...

Tall Allen said...
Joey-

Did an SBRT RO tell you that? Did you have any discussions about using a rectal spacer?

- Allen

I read a 2014 piece from John's Hopkins where they've come up with a "gel" that can be squirted between the prostate and the rectum wall. Trouble is....As of 2014, it was still awaiting FDA approval.

Hi Joey,
I had radiation as primary treatment with hormonr therapy concurrent. My treatment was 45 sessions each lasting approximatley 10 to 15 minutes. Around no 25 I developed bowel urgency and diarrhea. Some difficulty with urination as well. Immodium and psyllium powder helped with the diarrhea and flomax took care of the urinary issue. Both conditions cleared up within two weeks of last treatment at least the acute form. For a long while I still had urgency and once it hit I had to find a bathroom pretty quick. Here it is 8 years later and not a problem. I am not sure how any of this will work with an ostomy. Talk to your doc about that aspect.

Fatigue was not a problem as I was early in the HT and the radiation did not seem to contribute to that characteristic. I continued my exercise program and diet pretty much as always.

The last week of the treatment I did get a skin abrasion (for lack of a better term) at the top of my butt crack. Noticed a blood stain in my shorts and contorted enough with a mirror to see the raw spot. RO said that this was likely from the radiation and it cleared within a week of the last treatment.

The type of treatment I had was Image Guided Radiation Therapy/ Intensity Modulated Radiaiton Therapy (IGRT/IMRT) The machine used was the Varian Tru Beam. It is still around and has been improved to deliver a more accurate and faster treatment with the Rapid Arc addition. There are similar devices by Novartis and Cyberknife.

I am not an expert but you may want to look at some of the newer focal therapies if only one sample was positive. The tough part for these is identifying the rascals but imaging techniques are improving also. You could also look at brachtherapy where the seeds are inserted in the prostate through the perineum.

Look long and hard at the available options and talk to more than one provider. It will leave you head swimming but you will likely come out with a clearer path for you situation.

Best of luck,
Don

Tall Allen, no i have not. On the 13th i see the RO. Was reading about SBRT online and i thought they go through the rectum so that's out.

Joey,

You have been misinformed. They do not go through the rectum for anykind of EBRT. They can place the fiducials or transponders through the perineum.

You really should talk to expert doctors.

- Allen

Joey, RT uses ficucials, gold seeds the size of a grain of rice, placed in the prostate through the perineum. The only thing that passes through the rectum are the beams of radiation and the new methods are very precise so that the rectum is spared much of the radiation. Again, question your doctor and get him to show you pictures or 3D models of the area to be treated. If you are thinking about proton therapy where a baloon is inserted in the rectum you need to consider photon therapy. That is what I had. Less expensive, no balloon and just as effective from what I have read.

Don