Decisions Decisions for best treament

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User

Posted 03 Nov 2018 at 15:30

Hi Ian,

I think by now you have a good idea of all the pros and cons. I see the form of RT you are being offered is the hypofractionated form, probably using IMRT. Was either low or high dose Brachytherapy ruled out as statistics suggest this is a slightly more effective form of RT than External Beam as a stand alone radical treatment for suitable men?

Barry

User

Posted 05 Nov 2018 at 20:37

Hello Barry,

thanks for the response.

Brachytherapy does not appeal to me at all. The procedure itself scared me right off.

Yes, I would be treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy here - 20 x fractions over 4 x weeks. My initial thought was - great! it is a shorter period of treatment - but of course the dosage is that bit higher, and therefore the initial side effects could be more intense.

If you were of a cynical nature, you may think this is a clever approach to treat more patients in the same time period....

However I do have an article comparing this to the more conventional lower dose / more fractions, and the long-term results & side effects seem to balance out.

Best wishes,

Ian

User

Posted 05 Nov 2018 at 21:06

In fact, the research showed that side effects were fewer with the 20 x 3Gy or 19 x 3.2Gy that they are with 37 x 2Gy and with only 6 months of HT (I am really surprised by that, particularly with radical RT) you will hopefully find it a walk in the park.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 06 Nov 2018 at 20:48

Thanks Lyn. I suppose it depends which research you read. I was given the CHHiP trial report by my oncologist.

The term used was ' the hypofractionated schedule - 60Gy in 20 x fractions was not inferior to the conventional 74Gy in 37 fractions'

As for the duration of the HT - I can only assume that they know what they are doing - and this would be all I need. I asked the question on the duration - it was calculated based on 'large scale trials'.

Maybe not a walk in the park though - more like a hike across a ploughed field

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