Prostate Cancer Canada

Treatment

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In The News

Media Advisory - Prostate Cancer Canada celebrates local Vancouver Hero
Vancouver, British Colombia, April 16 –– Prostate Cancer Canada will honour the late Jack Poole, former VANOC Board Chair and local businessman, with the Local Hero Award. Jack was a generous benefactor to the Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital Foundation with gifts totalling $3 Million for “Jack the Robot”, a da Vinci S HD surgical system, and a $1 Million gift towards the Robert H. N. Ho Research Centre. His lead donation attracted a further $3.5 million in donations including $1.5 million from Jimmy Pattison. Together these donations enabled VGH to become the fourth Canadian hospital to employ robotic technology in surgery.

Media Advisory- Prostate Cancer Canada celebrates local Calgary Hero
Calgary, AB, April 10 –– Local Hero Dr. Jay Lee will be honoured on April 11th at the annual Wake Up Call Breakfast, hosted by Prostate Cancer Canada, in partnership with the Prostate Cancer Centre. Dr. Lee is being recognized for his extraordinary contribution to the fight against prostate cancer.

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Radiation Therapy

External Beam Radiation

What is it?

External beam radiation delivers therapeutic x-rays to a localized area in order to kill cancer cells.
May be a good option if age or general health makes surgery too risky.
Can be used in combination with other treatments although surgical removal of the prostate is very difficult after radiotherapy.

3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation and Intensity Modulated Radiation are commonly used techniques. They use either CT scans or MRIs to pinpoint where radiation is needed. The radiation beams “conform” to the prostate, sparing neighbouring tissue. This allows the
delivery of high-dose radiation to cancerous areas while minimizing risk of damage to healthy cells.

What is done?

Radiation works by interfering with cell division. Because normal cells are affected along with cancerous ones, radiation is given in small doses over a period of eight weeks.
Usually treatment is given Monday–Friday, with a break on weekends to give the healthy cells some time to recover.

What to expect?

Before treatment:
You will have one or more planning sessions (with different scans or x-rays) to identify the exact area to be treated.

During treatment:

A machine sends painless high-energy beams into your body. You will be fully awake for the treatment.
One session takes 10–30 minutes. No hospitalization is needed.
During treatment you will have regular meetings with your radiation oncologist to monitor side-effects and review your progress.

After treatment:
You will have follow-up appointments and PSA tests to check how effective the treatment has been.

Side effects and risks

Immediate side-effects:

May appear within a few weeks of radiation and disappear someweeks after treatment has ended.
Some men experience fatigue, decreased energy, weight loss or changes in appetite.
Less common are gastrointestinal or rectal problems such as diarrhea, pain during defecation and rectal bleeding.
Urinary problems are also possible e.g., blood in the urine, frequent urination, urine leakage.

Long-term side-effects:

These may appear anywhere from 6 months to several years after treatment.
Side-effects can range from scar tissue in the urinary passage (causing a slow urinary stream) to infertility.
Erectile dysfunction may occur in up to 50% of patients.

Brachytherapy

What is it?

Brachytherapy delivers radiation internally. There are 2 main types: low-dose seed implant brachytherapy and high-dose rate brachytherapy (HDR).

Low-dose seed implant brachytherapy

Usually recommended to men with lowergrade cancers that are contained within the prostate gland.
Between 80 and 100 radioactive seeds, the size of a grain of rice, are implanted directly into the prostate.
Each seed releases low-energy level radiation steadily over several months.

HDR

Reserved for patients with high-grade cancers.
High-dose radiation is received through approximately 15 needles in the prostate, concentrating on the cancerous areas.

What is done?

Low-dose seed implant brachytherapy

The seeds are inserted through the skin in the perineum.
Procedure is performed under either general or spinal anesthesia and lasts approximately 1 hour.

HDR

Under anesthesia, approximately 10–15 needles are inserted through the perineum.
These needles are wired to the radiation source that delivers a high radiation dose to the prostate.
The needles are then removed.
The treatment takes 10–20 minutes.

What to expect?

Low-dose seed implant brachytherapy

A catheter may be used for a short time for urine drainage.

HDR

Often preceded or followed by a few weeks of external beam radiation.
Sometimes HDR treatments are given over a few days and the external beam radiation is not needed.

Side effects and risks

Side-effects of brachytherapy are similar to those of external beam radiation.
Brachytherapy differs slightly in the following ways:
- Dominant short-term side-effect is irritation to the bladder and urethra
- Acute urinary r etention may develop
- Bowel irritation is relatively uncommon
- Side effects may last months