SpaceOAR gel: What do you feel after it is injected?

Posted by jibway @jibway, May 8, 2023

What are you supposed to feel after this is injected? Had mine done Friday, it is Monday, still don’t feel a thing.

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imbimbo | @imbimbo | May 9, 2023

I did not either but it gave me an infection and I had to wait till rectal ulcer cleared. After that experience I switched to active surveillance. One local hospital won’t use the spaceoar anymore. Not sure if there is a quality control issue with the gel or the doctors

drj | @drj | May 9, 2023

Besides the unpleasant numbing injections and the placement injection, I felt a lot of heat that I was unprepared for, but that was all.

It seemed like not much happened. Then sometime later I saw the before and after images. They showed a very large prostate pressed up against the colon/rectum that was now separated by perhaps a half inch or more space. I credit this for my complete lack of any bowel habit changes.

mar1957 | @marshallfeller | May 9, 2023

Recently BCBS Minnesota denied the Space Oar my urologist and radiation oncologist recomended, apparently because I was low risk a Gleason 7 and the radiation dose was too low. The denial letter copied and pasted the reason for the denial from Medicare Local Coverage Determination (LCD). I went online and noticed they did not provide the entire LCD report. The LCD summary showed several studies indicating the safety of the procedures and effectiveness in reducing rectal radiation. One of the lines in the Analysis of Evidence (Rationale for Determination) was "Reducing rectal radiation exposure during prostate cancer radiotherapy is desirable". I am trying to figure out why it is desirable but not in my case. This has set my starting treatment back at least one month or more.

cdcfbw | @cdcfbw | May 9, 2023

I just felt a "fullness" for awhile and then nothing. It will evaporate eventually.

slick64 | @slick64 | May 10, 2023

Had mine done, my Oncologist put me out, did the procedure and had no issues. I’m now on session 4 of 5 of radiation, and saw the scans the nurses look at and saw it sitting there doing it’s job.