← Return to Blood in Stool 3 months after Proton treatment

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robertov avatar

Blood in Stool 3 months after Proton treatment

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 6 days ago | Replies (40)

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Profile picture for neilmartin @neilmartin

@robertov I think there are some subtle issues here. First, a well done gel spacer is protective. I believe that with IMRT it makes the treatment safer. I think with Proton it makes it much safer , meaning, if the spacer has a lower quality placement there may be more risk with proton. I agree with most that the proton beam is more accurate, there is in my mind a challenge though. If it is positioned via CT , you have a highly accurate beam with a targeting system that is no better than IMRT say 4-5 mm. In your case you likely had control like Cyberknife fiducial implant feedback that would shut Proton streams off if it sensed an out of position prostate. That is not the case with 28 or 44 session proton to my knowledge. There is a 2 axis alignment prior to each treatment then no active feedback for position. My personal issues are not so bad , they have improved over time but it has caused me to explore this. I think proton has the potential to be extraordinarily accurate and is in fact gaining ground in many areas. It seems prostate treatment has a different set of variables than some other cancers. In the end it may be the premier treatment but I think it has a few iterations to go.

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Replies to "@robertov I think there are some subtle issues here. First, a well done gel spacer is..."

@neilmartin Great info! Mine was 5 sessions of Proton. Both MRI and CT were done to create a ‘fusion’ image. Fiducials were placed as well. The blood is most likely to have normal tissue regen. I suppose any misalignment effects or other effects will show up over time. Thanks for your investigations.