Upcoming SBRT

This page has a list of foods to avoid about a quarter of the way down. "MSK Precise" is their name for SBRT. https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/about-msk-precise-prostate

Side effects for me started the second week and were tiredness (took a nap every afternoon), burning urination and a weak stream. Flowmax helped with the weak stream, and avoiding spicy foods and acidy drinks (orange juice, coffee) helped with the burning. After two months I didn't need Flowmax anymore.

If you're doing ADT with SBRT the side effects of ADT will be far worse than anything from SBRT. Make sure you see a sexual rehab doctor if you plan to be sexually active after treatment. They put me on 20 mg of Viagra a day for two years to help keep blood flow and prevent damage.

Good luck!

Ok thank you. No ADT at this point. I’m still working, will this be a problem ?

Sorry just new don’t know all the terms!did a blood work up and have a psa history of 15 years from 3.5 at 51 years old gradually to 6.7 at 68 then this year 27 got an mri 1.3 cm lesson and just got a biopsy yesterday awaiting results otherwise no problems sexual, urinating bowels ect.Feel very healthy very active baseball, pickelball,golf,fishing,gardening travel.Any suggestions on non invasive treatments ?
Cheers and tks

@gshep I completed my SBRT this past Monday. I was on ADT (Orgovyx) since March 26. My oncologist said it's necessary to deprive the cancer cells of what they feed on. I understand it will take months for the cancer cell's DNA to be damaged enough and their blood supply to stop, so the cancer cells can't multiply anymore. In mid-July, I will have my 1st post-radiation PSA. I hope my PSA to be undetectable in the near future, then I can be off Orgovyx. Maybe after 8 months or a year, my oncologist indicated.

@pilotdave I was PSA 7.5 in Nov.2024, and 10.06 in February. Surgery was my first choice, but at 68-1/2, my family was worried I wasn't young enough for surgery so I had SBRT instead (completed this past Monday). Each one of us get to choose our treatment method -- which one is best for us individually & our loved ones supporting us in this journey.

My brother had five sessions of SBRT to treat his Gleason 4+3 PC 2 years ago. His radiation was done at UCSF by Dr. Roach, considered one of the best radiation oncologists.

He was given no diet requirements before having the five sessions. I had never heard of diet requirements for SBRT before, except in this forum a few months ago. I guess there is no universal requirement.

When I had my three sessions of SBRT on my spine no food recommendations were discussed.

Now, if you’re having IMRT or EBRT radiation five days a week for weeks, then diet can be a factor. You definitely don’t want gas problems while being radiated that often.

I had no dietary restrictions for SBRT (just suggestions for foods to stop if they irritated me). At the time of my therapy, I had no irritation over the 20 sessions, so my only dietary change was postponing my tea until after my appointment, since it's a diuretic and makes things tough with a full bladder.

A year later, I developed a "mild" case of radiation cystitis. At that point, I did have to go *very* easy on tea, alcohol, spicy foods, and anything carbonated until the irritation died down a bit and I got the urge incontinence under control (at its worst, I was waking up every 20 minutes at night to go to the bathroom; now, I'm fine again even on a trans-Atlantic flight).

YMMV

It shouldn't be. The tiredness was manageable. I had the luxury of a nap but could have done without one. A tip that might help: see if you can schedule yourself to be the last appointment of the day. Then you can go home and if you're too tired just go to bed.

Sloan Kettering really stresses diet - even for SBRT. In Cyberknife, Even though the beams are tracking the fiducials, a passing gas bubble can move the prostate (along with the fiducials) and cause surrounding tissue to be impacted.
That’s why MRIdian systems are so much better - they automatically stop the beam if the prostate moves out of the target area - and they don’t even use fiducials.
But even that system relies on a very low fiber, no gas diet.
Phil

@gshep SBRT includes a number of types of radiation machines. Each type of machine has different levels of tissue exposure. I had the Mridian machine but today, I would also be ok with the Elekta Unity as well. The Mridian had margins of 2 mm (because it had a built in MRI vs using fused images) versus other SBRT machines that had 3-5 mm margins (and no real time MRI built in). That meant more healthy tissue exposed and greater side effects.

I had a slight reduction in urination flow after the third of my five treatments. Flomax took care of that. No other side effects.

I had no dietary restrictions but try to eat somewhat healthy and stay active.