Bowel Protection

Hi can anyone give me information about a device that protects the bowel from collateral radiation damage potentially caused by external beam radiation?

[Tall_Allen]

I assume you are asking about primary radiation therapy and not salvage.

SpaceOAR hydrogel is often used for that purpose, but its necessity is questionable:

pcnrv.blogspot.com/2017/01/...

Some use a rectal balloon to stabilize the prostate.

The best solution is a well-designed plan that carefully contours the prostate, and leaves narrow margins. Fiducials or RF transponders are necessary, imho. A fast linac helps too. Long-term rectal injury is rare these days with modern techniques.

[Hidden in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks for your reply.

I neglected to say, this would be for salvage therapy.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Hidden]

Then ignore all of that. The importance of scrupulous contouring is paramount, and cone beam ct guidance is important.

[Hidden in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks. I'll look into that.

[westof]

Hmm... I had HDR Brachytherapy (April 26) and completed 25 days of IMRT July 8th.

Before I started IMRT,my MSK doc advised me to start taking Metamucil daily to help with potential episodes of diarrhea and to avoid coffee. I bought a jar of 300 caps from Amazon and started taking 3 caps daily.

Results: except for a few loose BM's, it was a breeze and no problems to date. Also,no Space Oar.

Best

[Hidden in reply to westof]

Thank you, I'll look into that.

[timotur]

I had SpaceOar inserted during HDR Brachy procedure one month prior to a 5 week IMRT treatment. I had absolutely no side effects from the SpaceOar or radiation.

”we looked at our own experience with SpaceOAR, we reported on a retrospective series of 105 men receiving intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) monotherapy for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer (81Gy, 45 fractions) who received SpaceOAR hydrogel. We examined the dose-volume histograms (DVHs) with respect to rectal dosing and compared them to the non-spacer control arm in the SpaceOAR randomized clinical trial (Huang et al. Poster presentation, AUA annual meeting [Engineering in Urology], May 2016).

With the spacer hydrogel, we were able to achieve a mean rV70 (the percent volume of rectum that received 70 Gy) of 1.1% +/- 1.7% (0-8.3), which represents a 94% reduction in rectal dose compared to a published control arm and markedly below the recommended limit of 20% by QUANTEC safety guidelines. Likewise, we also saw large dose reductions to the penile bulb in our cohort (9.0 +/- 5.2 Gy), which is 82% lower than dosing guidelines.“

urologytimes.com/prostate-c...

[Hidden]

Thank you.

[cesces]

Try trental after the fact or even during the fact.

[Sara_2611]

My sincere apologies I've never experienced this so don't know

Hope u managed to resolve the situation

MY very best regards

Sara

[robert1957]

Hello Minerva please research sperlina

[Hidden in reply to robert1957]

Thanks Robert.

I think you mean Spirulina?

I understand that you may not be familiar with the Healthunlocked communtieS

This post is in the Prostate Cancer community and the post is about radiation therapy.

I am also a member of the RLS community.

If you click on someone's profile and can see what things they've posted, you will see under the title of the post, what community it's posted in. Some people are in more than one community, because they have more than one condition.

[robert1957 in reply to Hidden]

Yes sorry for spelling mistake spirulina was given to to children after the chnobal disaster it reduced there radiation levels by up to 50%

[Jimhoy]

Try anything and all!!!! I was told NOTHING about the side effects and ever since RT, I fart f$&#ing bubbles!!! Stop laughing......its not funny!!!!

Wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that I have sooooo much gas now that I hired Hunter Biden!!!!

A little toot and off to the bathroom to wipe. If not, cactus-ass all day!!!! Grand son is pissed at me for using all his diaper rash cream!!!

And anything other than black pants are out of the question. One shit stain and you’re mister poopy pants forever!!!!

If looking at myself naked in the mirror isn’t bad enough, I got this going for me now as well!!!!

God is one funny SoB!!!! (Sorry God, I know you have more tricks up your sleeve!!!).

Jc

[Hidden]

Ah sorry, I misunderstood your intentions.

I appreciate that spirulina might have been used by soviet authorities. They used to, and currently Russia I know still use some fairly strange medications. That they're different than what we'd use here in the UK doesn't mean they're in error but it doesn't commend them either.

I realise that using such things as Spirulina may have been found incidentally to protect children against the effects of the radiocative elements emanating from the Chernobyl disaster, mainly caesium, iodine and strontium.. These would have been inhaled and ingested into the gastrointestinal tract. They would have principally emitted gamma radiation.

Substances taking orally may have protected the interior of the bowel from isotopes contained IN the bowel, but not from radiation coming from outside the bowel.

Radioactive iodine finds its way to the thyroid gland and there was an increase in thyroid cancer in the area. Strontium goes to bone. Caesium all over, but higher in muscles.

However, I think this is a different scenario to being irradiated with a higher intensity beam of X Ray radiation in the pelvic area. and from outside the bowel.

The real issue in this case is about how precisely the beam is focussed on the target and hence not so much on surrounding tissues. It is possible in the primary treatment of prostate cancer by external beam radiation to place a "spacer" between the target and the bowel that heklps stops the beams getting through. It aoppears that this isn'; possible for salvage RT.

But thanks fior the thought.

[robert1957]

I am only telling you wat I know

[robert1957]

No worries