Brachytherapy

[Irelandeire]

Brachytherapy 

Hi just curious if anyone had brachytherapy and whats it success rate? 

[maack1]

I don't have the study paper handy, but brachytherapy was reported as being quite successful in prostate cancer cell eradication.  Several top Radiation Oncologists prefer either external beam radiation first followed by brachytherapy, or just the opposite with brachytherapy first followed by external beam radiation to provide a more complete radiation of the prostate gland as well as its periphery in the prostatic bed.  Saved in my files a few things to be aware:

BRACHYTHERAPY SEED IMPLANTS?

Concerns regarding radiation exposure following brachytherapy seed implants:

The type of seeds makes a difference on how soon the radioactivity will be expended. Cesium 131 (aka Cs-131) provides 90% of its total dosage in just 33 days and has a half life of just 9.7 days; Palladium 103 (aka Pd-103) provides 90% of its total dosage in 58 days and has a half life of 17 days; and Iodine 125 (aka I-125) provides 90%of its total dosage in 204 days and has a half life of 60 days. Thus, duration of concern also includes the type seeds implanted.

In this PubMed paper ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/200... is the conclusion:

“Cs-131 seeds allows for better dose homogeneity, while providing comparable prostate coverage and sparing of the urethra and rectum, with a comparable number of, or fewer, seeds and needles required, compared to I-125 or Pd-103 seeds.”

Following from Mayo:

mayoclinic.com/health/prost...

or if won't open, try: tinyurl.com/yzad99d

[Irelandeire]

Just eondeting how long would it be after you get brachytherapy done until you could return to work 

[Hidden]

Hello,

My father had Brachytherapy in 2003-it didn't work for him. He was so pleased at the time he even donated £500 to the hospital-he thought they'd cured him. After that he started worrying it might come back because the prostate was still there. 4 years later it spread and 4 years after that (2011) he died from metastatic prostate cancer. At the time of him having it done his PC was only early stages and not aggressive (gleeson 6) but the Brachytherapy never brought his PSA down by much like it should've done. it was supposed to have similar success rates to prostate removal.

If i could go back in time I absolutely would've tried everything I could to get him to have the prostate out instead but he did not have a great doctor he did not advise him one way or the other just gave him the options. My father had a family history of PC so it would depend on the situation whether it is more likely to work or not I think too. Personally I wish it had never been invented and my father might still be here but he did not want the side effects from having the prostate out-in hindsight those would've been a walk in the park.