Will My Diet Affect My Treatment
Yes. Good nutrition is an important part of recovering from the side effects of radiation therapy. When you are eating well, you have the energy to do the activities you want to do, and your body is able to heal and fight infection. Most important, good nutrition can give you a sense of well-being.
Since eating when you dont feel well can be difficult, consider working with a dietitian. They can help make sure that you are getting adequate nutrition during your radiation therapy.
Recommended Reading: Super Beta Prostate Where To Buy
What Happens At A Follow
Discussion with your doctor or nurse
At each appointment, your doctor or nurse will ask how youve been since your last appointment.
Tell them about any symptoms or treatment side effects youve had, as well as any other problems or concerns. You can tell them how you are feeling emotionally as well as physically. You can also discuss any practical problems you might have, such as problems at work or with day-to-day activities. You may be given a questionnaire about your physical, social, emotional and practical needs. You might hear this called a holistic needs assessment form.
Your GP or hospital doctor or nurse can help you deal with side effects, or refer you to someone else who can. For example, if you have problems with leaking urine , they might refer you to a continence service. Or if you have problems getting or keeping erections , they can refer you to an erectile dysfunction service. They can also help you get support for emotional problems, such as feeling anxious or depressed, and practical problems, such as managing your finances.
You might feel embarrassed talking about some of the side effects of treatments, such as erection problems. But remember doctors and nurses see people with these problems every day, so be as open as you can. They are there to help.
PSA test
You may be asked to avoid any vigorous exercise or ejaculating in the 48 hours before a PSA test, as this could cause a temporary rise in your PSA level.
Vitamins And Dietary Supplements
Its OK to take a multivitamin during your radiation therapy. Do not take more than the recommended daily allowance of any vitamin or mineral.
Dont take any other dietary supplements without talking with a member of your care team. Vitamins, minerals, and herbal or botanical supplements are examples of dietary supplements.
Don’t Miss: What Does It Mean When Your Prostate Is Enlarged
Brachytherapy For Prostate Cancer
Brachytherapy is a form of internal radiation therapy. With this type of therapy, radiation is delivered to the prostate tumor inside the body via a catheter or another implantable device.
High-dose rate brachytherapy uses radioactive Iridium-192 to deliver high doses of radiation to the prostate tumor. Treatments are short, sometimes requiring as few as five sessions. Brachytherapy radiation more tightly surrounds the tissues were targeting, which may help spare normal tissues.
How Common Is Recurrence
The recurrence of prostate cancer depends on when it was caught and treated the first time. If your doctor was able to remove the cancer while it was still confined in the prostate gland, your chances of recurrence are fairly low. If your cancer spread before treatment, such as in the case of about 10% of men, recurrence is more likely to occur. Recurrence, therefore, occurs if not all of the cancer cells were treated the first time or if the cancer was more advanced than originally believed.
Also Check: Is There Any Cure For Prostate Cancer
Don’t Miss: Back Ache And Prostate Cancer
Possible Side Effects Of Radiation Treatment For Prostate Cancer
The radiation used to destroy cancer cells can also hurt normal cells in the nearby area. Side effects from radiation treatment are related to the area of the body being treated. Patients start to have side effects a few weeks into their treatment. While side effects may be unpleasant, there are treatments to help deal with them. Most side effects are temporary and slowly start to go away once treatment is done.
You will be seen by your radiation oncology providers often during treatment. These visits are a chance to ask questions and to talk about any side effects and how to best manage them. You can also call your providers to speak about any side effects.
Helping People Imagine Their Future
The hardest thing we can do as physicians is help patients envision their future selves, Dr. Buyyounouski said. So patient-reported outcomes are very helpful, because you can tell patients exactly what side effects people had, and the frequency and bother of those side effects at points in time.
For many, he added, the trade-off in more side effects right after treatment will be worth it for a shorter treatment duration.
Unless youve been a patient, its hard for folks to imagine all the things that need to happen for somebody to go and get treatment every for weeks, Dr. Buyyounouski said.
Theres transportation costs, gas, parking, co-pays. And there are costs associated with the things youre not doing, like time away from work or responsibilities at home. Its more than just the medical bills.
I think people are itching to shorten the treatment because there are a lot of patients for whom its a barrier to getting treatment. And radiation therapy is a potentially curative treatment, added Dr. Citrin. So, making it easier for patients without increasing the long-term side effects is a huge win.
However, a less-intensive standard course of radiation will still likely appeal to some people, she added, especially if they are experiencing ongoing side effects from surgery.
Don’t Miss: How To Treat Inflamed Prostate
What Side Effects Can Second
Any cancer treatment can cause side effects. For example, hormone therapy side effects include erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, and breast tissue tenderness.
You’re more likely to have side effects after second-line treatments, because the first treatment you had might have already damaged the tissue around your prostate. The side effects can also be more severe during the second round of treatment.
Just because a treatment can cause a side effect doesn’t mean it will affect you that way. Ask your doctor or nurse what types of side effects to expect, and what to do if you have any.
Im Worried About All The Side Effects From Prostate Cancer Medications What Can I Do
Carefully review the side effect profile of the different hormone therapy regimens, and discuss with your health care team potential ways to minimize the effects. In the end, its important that you not only understand the value of the therapy in the management of your prostate cancer, but also that you learn how to live your life as best as possible while fighting the disease.
Also Check: Prostate Cancer External Beam Radiation Side Effects
How Is Prostate Cancer Treated
Lorenzo asked his doctors about survival and side effects and talked to friends and family members before deciding on treatment. He shares his story in this blog post.
Different types of treatment are available for prostate cancer. You and your doctor will decide which treatment is right for you. Some common treatments are
- Expectant management. If your doctor thinks your prostate cancer is unlikely to grow quickly, he or she may recommend that you dont treat the cancer right away. Instead, you can choose to wait and see if you get symptoms in one of two ways:
- Active surveillance. Closely monitoring the prostate cancer by performing prostate specific antigen tests and prostate biopsies regularly, and treating the cancer only if it grows or causes symptoms.
- Watchful waiting. No tests are done. Your doctor treats any symptoms when they develop. This is usually recommended for men who are expected to live for 10 more years or less.
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Or Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy
This type of therapy is used to deliver high doses of radiation to a precise area in the prostate using specialized techniques not achievable by standard conventional radiation therapy. This allows the total dose of radiation to be given in a shorter amount of time, usually 4 -5 treatments over 1 2 weeks rather than the several weeks used for other types of external radiation therapy.
The radiation beam needs to be extremely accurate in order to limit the side effects on healthy tissue. During treatment, the body immobilization used is often more restrictive than with IMRT due to the high doses of radiation. Fiducials, or internal prostate markers, are often used in this type of treatment.
Cyberknife and Truebeam are two types of LINACs used for SBRT treatment of prostate cancer.
You May Like: What To Do To Avoid Prostate Cancer
Also Check: What Are Symptoms Of Prostate Cancer
Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer
Locally advanced prostate cancer means the cancer has broken through the outer covering of the prostate gland into nearby tissues.
Your doctor might monitor your prostate cancer if you dont have any symptoms. This is called watchful waiting. You can start treatment if you get symptoms.
Treatment options include:
- external radiotherapy with hormone therapy
- hormone therapy on its own
A small number of men might have surgery to remove the prostate gland. But doctors dont often use it as a treatment for locally advanced cancer.
You May Like: Metastatic Hormone Sensitive Prostate Cancer
Treatment Options: When Cancer Returns After Radiation
After prostate cancer is treated, patients usually undergo a blood test called PSA. PSA stands for Prostate Specific Antigen and is a simple blood test that gives a number. After treatment, that number should be low. If it starts to increase, that can be a signal of cancer coming back, also known as cancer recurrence.
Often doctors will watch a series of PSA values to identify the trend. If the PSA number continues to increase, this is called biochemical failure, and your doctors will investigate the cause. Sometimes doctors will order scans to see if there is cancer recurrence locally , or distantly . Treatment is different depending on where the cancer is found.
If there is high suspicion for local recurrence, your doctors may encourage a prostate biopsy to see if there is tumor identified under the microscope. If so, there are several local treatment options including cryotherapy and prostatectomy. Some patients may choose observation.
Brachytherapy Option
What about using brachytherapy on the prostate? This has not been as popular given the concern about risk of toxicity for patients who have used external beam radiation previously
More follow up is needed and the complete results will be reported with longer follow up, but this study shows that salvage brachytherapy may be another option in the treatment of recurrent prostate cancer after radiation therapy.
Recommended Reading: Final Stages Of Metastatic Prostate Cancer
What If My Psa Rises While Im On Hormone Therapy
When the PSA is rising or cancer is spreading despite a low level of testosterone, prostate cancer is called castration-resistant, or hormone-refractory. Despite this name, some hormonal therapies may still work. But prostate cancer in this setting may progress and become more aggressive and resistant, and you should be prepared to discuss additional treatment strategies with your doctor. This is the time when a medical oncologist, if not already involved in your care, gets involved. These doctors specialize in medical, systemic treatments for prostate cancer, which is useful at this time given that your disease is typically metastatic, meaning that it is not confined to only one location. Cancer cells in this situation have typically spread through the blood stream or lymphatics to other places in the body, and localized treatments are rarely helpful except in circumstances where where you are having symptoms, such as problems with urination.
Fortunately, more and more treatments for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer have become available in recent years, including certain newer androgen directed therapies, taxane chemotherapy, immunotherapy, PARP inhibitors, and, in 2022, lutetium-PSMA radionuclide therapy. Additional tests are required for some of these treatments to see if your particular type of prostate cancer is likely to respond. See Chapter 5 in PCFs Prostate Cancer Patient Guide for more details.
Which Treatment Is Best For You
The exact type of treatment that is best for you can depend upon many factors, such as the stage of the cancer, where in the prostate the cancer is located, and individual factors. These are all taken into account by the treating healthcare team when creating a personalized treatment plan.
When you meet with your healthcare provider, they will give you the options that will be the most effective in treating your case of prostate cancer.
For stage 1 prostate cancer, treatment may include:
- Watchful waiting or active surveillance
- Hormone therapy
- Radical prostatectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy
- Radiation after surgery
- Transurethral resection of the prostate
Don’t Miss: Life Expectancy For Prostate Cancer Without Treatment
If Treatment Does Not Work
Recovery from cancer is not always possible. If the cancer cannot be cured or controlled, the disease may be called advanced or terminal.
This diagnosis is stressful, and for some people, advanced cancer may be difficult to discuss. However, it is important to have open and honest conversations with your health care team to express your feelings, preferences, and concerns. The health care team has special skills, experience, and knowledge to support patients and their families and is there to help. Making sure a person is physically comfortable, free from pain, and emotionally supported is extremely important.
People who have advanced cancer and who are expected to live less than 6 months may want to consider hospice care. Hospice care is designed to provide the best possible quality of life for people who are near the end of life. You and your family are encouraged to talk with the health care team about hospice care options, which include hospice care at home, a special hospice center, or other health care locations. Nursing care and special equipment, including a hospital bed, can make staying at home a workable option for many families. Learn more about advanced cancer care planning.
After the death of a loved one, many people need support to help them cope with the loss. Learn more about grief and loss.
Cancer That Is Thought To Still Be In Or Around The Prostate
If the cancer is still thought to be just in the area of the prostate, a second attempt to cure it might be possible.
After surgery: If youve had a radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy might be an option, sometimes along with hormone therapy.
After radiation therapy: If your first treatment was radiation, treatment options might include cryotherapy or radical prostatectomy, but when these treatments are done after radiation, they carry a higher risk for side effects such as incontinence. Having radiation therapy again is usually not an option because of the increased potential for serious side effects, although in some cases brachytherapy may be an option as a second treatment after external radiation.
Sometimes it might not be clear exactly where the remaining cancer is in the body. If the only sign of cancer recurrence is a rising PSA level , another option for some men might be active surveillance instead of active treatment. Prostate cancer often grows slowly, so even if it does come back, it might not cause problems for many years, at which time further treatment could then be considered.
Factors such as how quickly the PSA is going up and the original Gleason score of the cancer can help predict how soon the cancer might show up in distant parts of the body and cause problems. If the PSA is going up very quickly, some doctors might recommend that you start treatment even before the cancer can be seen on tests or causes symptoms.
Also Check: Prostate Cancer Blood Test Results
Factors That Increase Risk Of Recurrence
There are many different factors that can help you determine what your risk of recurrence is. Your doctor will go over these during the initial course of treatment, therefore stressing the importance of follow up appointments.
One factor is the involvement of your lymph nodes. If your cancer has metastasized to your lymph nodes, recurrence is more likely. Similarly, the larger the tumor, the more likely that you are to experience complications and rates of recurrence. If the tumor is intertwined or growing into other areas of your body, this also increases risk. The Gleason score is a system of grading your prostate cancer based on severity and localization. The higher the grade, the more likely youll experience recurrence. Finally, the stage of prostate cancer affects recurrence rates. When caught early, recurrence is not as likely as cancers that are in stage three or four.
Cancer can be extremely aggressive and will change your life forever. Make sure that youre doing everything you can to avoid potential problems. Eat well, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. Strengthening your immune system is a great way to reduce your risk of recurrence.
Can You Have Prostate Surgery After Treatment With Radiation
Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!
Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!
HealthTap doctors are based in the U.S., board certified, and available by text or video.
Also Check: Earliest Signs Of Prostate Cancer