Side Effects Of Prostate Radiation Therapy

Patients who receive any type of radiation therapy external beam or brachytherapy to treat their prostate cancer can have side effects.

Side effects of prostate radiation therapy.

Doctors will often use external radiation therapy for prostate cancer patients who want to avoid the risks of surgery. However these radiotherapy side effects are less common and occur only when the radiation damages your body. External beam radiation and. The type and severity of side effects you have with external beam radiation for prostate cancer may depend on the dose and on the amount of healthy tissue that s exposed to the radiation.

When it comes to prostate cancer there are two kinds of radiation treatment. The side effects of external beam radiation therapy tend to be less severe than the side effects of other prostate cancer treatments. Short term complications you may experience some temporary urinary symptoms such as waking up in the night and needing to urinate needing to urinate more often during the day or urgency needing to. Below is a list of possible short term side effects.

Because the prostate is close to several vital structures radiation therapy can disrupt normal urinary bowel and sexual functioning. Radiation therapy also called x ray therapy uses high levels of radiation to kill prostate cancer cells or keep them from growing and dividing while minimizing damage to healthy cells. Radiation therapy has long been a staple of treatment for many types of cancers. Most side effects are temporary can be controlled and generally improve over time once treatment has ended.

Short term side effects are ones that start during or shortly after your radiation treatment.