Side Effects Of Prostate Radiation

Some side effects might show up quickly but others might not show up until 1 to 2 years after treatment.

Side effects of prostate radiation.

Most side effects are temporary can be controlled and generally improve over time once treatment has ended. Treatments can affect each. 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. Patients who receive any type of radiation therapy external beam or brachytherapy to treat their prostate cancer can have side effects.

Short term side effects. People with brain tumors often get stereotactic radiosurgery radiation given in one large dose if the cancer is in only one or a few sites in the brain. Learn more about possible side effects. Because the prostate is close to several vital structures radiation therapy can disrupt normal urinary bowel and sexual functioning.

The side effects of external beam radiation therapy tend to be less severe than the side effects of other prostate cancer treatments. Side effects depend on where the radiation is aimed. During and after radiation treatment for prostate cancer there may be diarrhea and or rectal pain irritable bowels incontinence of feces and sometimes bloody stools 2 according to the acs this is more common with older forms of external beam radiation where the source of radiation is placed outside the body. Some newer radiation machines have imaging scanners built into them.

Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. 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. Doctors will often use external radiation therapy for prostate cancer patients who want to avoid the risks of surgery. Short term side effects are ones that start during or shortly after your radiation treatment.

However these radiotherapy side effects are less common and occur only when the radiation damages your body. Long term side effects of radiation therapy for prostate cancer studies show that over time men who have undergone this procedure tend to develop long term side effects. This appears to help deliver the radiation even more precisely and results in fewer side effects. Below is a list of possible short term side effects.

This advance known as image guided radiation therapy igrt lets the doctor take pictures of the prostate just before giving the radiation to make minor adjustments in aiming.