Brachytherapy Side Effects in the Long and Short Term When Treating Prostate Cancer
Brachytherapy is a type of radiotherapy, where instead of the radiation being given to the patient in short sessions over a longer period, radiation seeds are implanted into the prostate tumor. These seeds then provide a continuous radiation dose to the tumor. The radiation levels are not high enough to harm the patient, but can cause other side effects both in the long term and short term. This article lists the possible side effects to having Brachytherapy treatment for a prostate cancer tumor.
Your doctor will always be the best person to talk to about any concerns you have Brachytherapy side effects He or she will also be able to advise you on the best way of coping with any of the side effects.
Some of the short term Brachytherapy side effects are
Pain or discomfort around the anus
Tiredness
Cystitis
And some of the longer term Brachytherapy side effects are:
Inability to gain an erection
Urinary incontinence (although this is much less likely using Brachytherapythan it is through normal radiotherapy)
The different prostate cancer treatments all have different side effects The doctor will advise the best treatment or set of treatments based on the patients age, health and size of the cancer growth. While most of the side effects of Brachytherapy are only short term, there is always the risk of the long term side effects which is why the final say for treatment is always left to the patient themselves. Brachytherapy is also often used together with other treatments.
Do you have prostate cancer and want to learn more about it and what your options are? To find out more about prostate cancer, please visit www.prostatecancerfaq.orgProstate Cancer Info.
www.ProstateCancerFAQ.orgwww.ProstateCancerFAQ.org