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How to treat rectal bleeding? Started after prostate cancer radiation
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Jun 26 11:10pm | Replies (46)Comment receiving replies
Flax, I had 22 sessions of external beam radiation about a year ago. This was in supplement to my prostatectomy which was three years ago. A slight increase in my postoperative PSA from 0.0602 0.14 is what triggered the radiation treatment. It was rising slightly. Since in my PSA has been 0.14, 0.11, and now 0.072. It's definitely heading in the right direction but it was slow. With my 22 sessions of external beam radiation there was absolutely no chemicals or ADT. 3+4 Gleason . The rectal bleeding started about four months after my radiation and continues until this day. I have a G.I. doctors appointment upcoming, so I can report back. My appointment is mid May, so if you want to get a hold of me during that time frame I can certainly tell you what the G.I. doctor told me. My urologist suggested that there is likely some irritation from the radiation and sometimes bleeding can come from polyps. He recommended that I see a G.I. doctor and that I requested the colonoscopy as well as the search down my oesophagus into my stomach looking for polyps and other abnormalities. However he suggested that the situation is not uncommon and is usually a result of irritation to the large intestine, irritation to the polyps in the large intestine and polyps in the stomach. He said the definitive answer must be obtained. God Bless Sir . James on Vancouver Island .
Replies to "Flax, I had 22 sessions of external beam radiation about a year ago. This was in..."
I had 5 high external beam radiation treatments for stage 2 Prostate Cancer which finished first week of August. Started bleeding rectally early in January. After a sigmoidoscopy revealed a small irritation problem with my anus My GP gave me sucralfate enemas to try for 6 weeks which did nothing and then tried sucralfate supositories which also did nothing. GP has asked for a G.I doctor-wait time to see around 2 months. Just wondering if you have met with the G.I. doctor yet and what he has suggested. I live in Kamloops, and have noticed that we don't have the same treatment options open to us here that are available at Mayo or other American medical facilities. Not sure if Vancouver would be a better option for me. I had to travel to the cancer clinic in Kelowna for my treatments and they have no system in place to help with radiation side effects-nurse told me to drink lots of water. Any info based on your experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time. David
I live in Kamloops BC. I had 5 radiation treatments for Prostate cancer 9 months ago and started bleeding rectally 5 months ago. My GP had me try Sucralfate enemas and suppositories for 8 weeks which didn't help. I'm waiting for an appointment with a G.I. specialist. I'm wondering how you made out with your G.I. since we both live in British Columbia.
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The pathogenesis of radiation proctopathy is different from rectal proctitis. There has been a failing effort to reflect that in the medical language. Radiation damages the DNA of the rectal mucosa. Angioectasia (as differentiated from Telangiaectasia) those bright little vessels that bleed because of the damage. The result is ischemic tissue that sloughs and reforms as the angioectasia bleeds and reforms in a cyclic process. Spot Radiofrequency, formalin and can eliminate the malformed vessels, but they return.
Radiofrequency with the Halo 90 penetrates with a low controlled frequency that has been microscopically proven to allow the regrowth of normal epithelia in the rectum.
You might be interested in https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8831406/#:~:text=RADIATION%20PROCTITIS%20AND%20ITS%20CLASSIFICATION,induced%20damage%20to%20the%20rectum.
Your treatment plan and the daily treatment effects would show you the amount of radiation to the colon, to the bladder, to the rectum, to the prostate etc. And would give you an idea how likely you are to have radiation damage in each area. >45gys is thought to be the cutoff.
My rectal exposure was high because it was a rectal cancer. I had multiple rectoscopies, and the staff cooed over how lovely my rectum. It was smooth and white with no evident flaws, no evident scarring. That white was damaged tissue. When the GI forgetting that I wasn't medicated decided to take a biopsy, I jumped causing my first and long lasting bleed. It would have bled eventually anyway because the DNA of that surface was radiation damaged.
The halo 90 is a wand with a tiny flat mesh (looks like a flyswatter) depth, frequency and duration are tightly controlled.