What does Salvage Therapy after Radiation look like?

Posted by Cannondale @tactive, Aug 6 6:36am

I am 53 years old with a Gleason 3+4 =7 and I am considering radiation treatment (SBRT Proton, with spacer and ADT) but concerned with long term effects of radiation (10-20 years down the road).

I also have questions about possible recurrence and what salvage treatment looks like.

Could you please share your experiences regarding radiation long term side effects, and/or your experiences with salvage therapy after radiation?

Thank you very much.

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Profile picture for clevelandguy @clevelandguy

Hi,
One thing about Proton beam radiation is that you can treat the same general area various times where some X-ray based radiations will max out an area. Proton radiation has a fixed beam length so damage past the cancer site is rarely effected. Other type of X-ray based radiation go completely through your body hitting other organs and tissue.

Dave 3+4

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@clevelandguy Note that for proton radiation treatment they use what’s called a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP).

Because a single proton beam is very narrow (as you point out), a single narrow proton peak would miss the vast majority of the cancerous cells. Using multiple energy levels treats the entire tissue while sparing nearby organs and tissues.

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Profile picture for brianjarvis @brianjarvis

@clevelandguy Note that for proton radiation treatment they use what’s called a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP).

Because a single proton beam is very narrow (as you point out), a single narrow proton peak would miss the vast majority of the cancerous cells. Using multiple energy levels treats the entire tissue while sparing nearby organs and tissues.

Jump to this post

@brianjarvis
Yes they map the area and hit a larger cancerous group with multiple Proton beams.

Dave 3+4

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Profile picture for clevelandguy @clevelandguy

Hi,
One thing about Proton beam radiation is that you can treat the same general area various times where some X-ray based radiations will max out an area. Proton radiation has a fixed beam length so damage past the cancer site is rarely effected. Other type of X-ray based radiation go completely through your body hitting other organs and tissue.

Dave 3+4

Jump to this post

@clevelandguy thanks Dave

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