Drs will not tell you all side effects of treatment
I had HDR BRACHYTHERAPY.
I neer to give my self a shot for an erection, cannot orgams, lost an inch and half of penile length, have urethral stricture and a biochemical recurrence of pca with a psa of 4.13 currently. A complete failure of modern medicine
FYI.. started with gleason 7(4-3). One out of 18 point biopsy was 20% cancerous.
Hi
. All too often we hear of men who were not made aware of the potential side effects of treatments. Strictures can occur in up to 12% of brachytherapy patients (see:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5010629). Mind if I ask how long ago your brachytherapy was? I ask because the article notes that the percent of patients with strictures increases over time with brachytherapy. It does sound like, given the ED and loss of penile length that there also may have been blood flow issues, which can indicate radiation damage.
Have you had a PSMA Pet scan look for the recurrent cancer? I ask because the PSMA is the gold standard in locating recurrent cancer (see: https://prostatecancer.net/clinical/psma-imaging-scan). I don't know if you are now seeing a different doctor, but given the loss of confidence from the original treatment it would certainly be understandable to find someone new. Please feel free to keep us posted on how you are doing and hope the treatment for the recurrence goes well. Best, Richard (Team Member)
Interested in your journey, as I have just been diagnosed...localized lesion....HDR brachytherapy is the recommended treatment for me. Have you engaged in further followup? What was the outcome? What treatments are you getting currently?
Appreciate hearing back.Hi
. Until you hear back from (I'm tagging him so he will be notified), I want to share some experiences with brachytherapy from other community members. Here is one who was pleased with his choice: https://prostatecancer.net/stories/roller-coaster-choosing. In contrast, here is someone with a bad urinary incontinence problem following treatment: https://prostatecancer.net/stories/post-radiation-urinary-problems. Here is one more experience and you may also want to check out the comments: https://prostatecancer.net/stories/my-journey-to-date. As you will see, every experience can be different. It is important to talk with your doctors about why they recommend a particular treatment and ask directly about potential side effects. Also, many men recommend getting a couple of opinions. Hope this information is helpful and please feel free to keep us posted and to ask further questions. Best, Richard (Team Member)
