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DiscussionHow long do side effects from prostate radiation last?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Nov 2 5:41pm | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "The limit for SBRT is lower. Mine was 40 gy. I've seen 36.5 listed as the..."
Oh, thanks -- that makes sense.
We had to make a decision early whether to treat the cancer palliatively and focus on immediate quality of life (the traditional approach to stage-4 cancer), or take a chance and fight back hard. Since I was only 56, I chose the latter, and as I've mentioned before, my radiation oncologist agreed to "throw the kitchen sink" at it.
So yes, I do still have some radiation cystitis and proctitis from the high radiation dose 2½ years later, and at this stage I'll probably have them forever. But I can put up with occasional irritation and burning in exchange for being around to put up with them.
In 20 years, let's meet up somewhere for a drink. I'll tell you how happy I am to be alive, and you can tell me how dramatically your sex life has revived. 🙂
I do not think there is a NCCN accepted solely SBRT regime that the dosage is 60Gy. I had 5*7.25 = 36.25Gy for the entire prostate with a focal boost to 40 Gy at the primary lesion.