Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Any experience out there with radiation seeds as a treatment for prostate cancer

Any experience out there with radiation seeds as a treatment for prostate cancer?
I have stage 1 cancer, Gleason scale is 6, PSA is 7. I have heard radiation seeds are quite effective with relatively few side effects for a cancer at this stage. any experience with it?
Cancer - 4 Answers
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1 :
Obviously I have no personal experience with it, but many men have used them and been very happy with the results. Overall I would say the majority are happy with their decision. Before you decide get a second opinion from at least one more urologist. Treatment for prostate cancer is a personal one and there are more choices out there than most other cancers have. You may want a consult with a radiation oncologist as well as they would be the one doing the treatment. You should also consider proton therapy. Best wishes.
2 :
Not me , but my father in law. He swears by these seeds. In fact, I never heard about them until he told us. He had prostate cancer as well, stage 2. As soon as they got his PSA results, he was put in the hospital and under general anesthesia, they injected the radio active seeds directly into the tumor. They have to go through the rectum. Ouch, He said it didn't hurt after he woke. That's great. It seemed in no time the tumor was dissolved. He lives in Florida and called my husband with the good news less than a year ago that the tumor was gone. He has not had reoccurring cancer again. So if your Oncologist is suggesting for you, I say do it. My father in law is 83 and it worked. OK. Good luck and be well.
3 :
My psa was 377 and my gleason was 9 and a high stage 3. I could not use the seeds but did get 8 weeks of radiation. My current psa is .4. My older brother was very much like you in his score. His doctor used the seeds and he is cancer free after his 8 weeks of radiation. He told me he did not have many side effects. There will be some but not usually severe: problems urinating for a while but that resolves itself after a couple of weeks after treatment ends. You may also feel tired and worry a little. Talk with the doctor and I recommend going to a book store and buying a book called prostate cancer for dummies. Sounds silly but you will find a lot of use full information in it. Do not fear the cancer. At your stage there is no reason to not believe that you will be totally cured. By the way, after the radiation is done your first psa tast will not be for about a month. This is to allow the levels of radiation to normalize so as to get the best psa test score. You will be fine. Good luck to you. Remember---no fear.
4 :
http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/ check out this site compleat with a message board with nice genuine people who will help and support you. some of them will have had the treatment you are thinking about

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