Radiation therapy is one of the procedures your doctor may recommend for prostate cancer. This treatment can affect other parts of your body like your mouth, teeth, and gums. It would be best if you have dental insurance, or comprehensive medical insurance, to address the radiation’s side effects not only on your oral health but your overall well-being too. In any case, keep reading to learn how radiation for prostate cancer works, including the side effects and when it’s generally used.
Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer
Radiation therapy is an effective treatment for prostate cancer. It kills cancer cells by utilizing high-energy particles or rays. In addition, your doctor can provide this treatment in many ways, including brachytherapy and external beam radiation. It is best when an experienced radiation oncologist is the one who will deliver radiation therapy for prostate cancer.
Moreover, there are many reasons to use radiation treatment. Generally, radiation can:
- Treat both early phase cancers of the prostate gland and more advanced prostate cancer.
- Be utilized alone or with other procedures such as hormone deprivation.
- Address recurrent prostate cancer after a surgical procedure
- Slow cancer development, decrease fracture risk.
- Be used as a palliative therapy to deal with pain from advanced cancer.
- Treat men with restricted spreading prostate cancer to lessen the tumor’s size and further develop endurance and quality of life.
Type of Radiation Therapy
There are two kinds of radiation therapy that your doctor may use to treat prostate cancer.
External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT)
During this therapy, a device points light of concentrated radiation at cancer cells in the prostate. It could be utilized to treat cancer in the beginning phases or to assist with diminishing symptoms if cancers spread to the bone. In any case, external beam radiation therapy is usually a painless procedure.
Additionally, external beam radiation therapy has many subcategories. These include:
Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT): A device connected to a computer changes your position as the equipment delivers radiation. The doctor can adjust the intensity and angle of the beams of radiation.
Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT): This machine uses a computer to map cancer cells before the doctor aims the radiation beams at your prostate from various directions.
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT): The doctor will administer this treatment by giving massive doses of radiation.
Proton Beam Radiation Therapy: Doctors use concentrated beams to target cancer cells. In principle, proton therapy can give more radiation while harming more minor healthy tissues.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation therapy. It applies tiny radioactive seeds or capsules about the size of rice grains to eliminate prostate cancer cells. Generally, doctors can use this for patients with early-stage prostate cancer.
Your doctor will place these tiny radioactive seeds near your prostate. They will use imaging techniques such as computerized tomography (CT) scan, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to complete this process. Additionally, brachytherapy might be joined with external radiation if the cancer is highly likely to develop outside your prostate.
In any case, there are two sorts of internal radiation used to treat prostate cancer:
Permanent brachytherapy: In this procedure, a doctor will place a radioactive material between your scrotum and anus using a needle. The materials emit radiation for weeks to months.
Temporary brachytherapy: Your doctor will leave a considerable dose of radiation in your prostate for around 5 to 15 minutes before being taken out.
Radiation Precautions
If you have permanent brachytherapy, the radioactive material will emit tiny amounts of radiation for a few weeks or months. Although the radiation does not go far, your physician may recommend you stay away from pregnant women and young children during your treatment. Suppose you plan to travel. Then, you should get a doctor’s note regarding your treatment, as low degrees of radiation can sometimes be detected by the systems at airports.
Possible Side Effects of Radiation Therapy For Prostate Cancer
External beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy both have the probability of causing side effects. Usually, most of these disappear within two months of completing treatment.
Vision Problems
The primary worry with radiation treatment is harm to parts of the eye. This damage may lead to eye problems such as dry eye, blurry vision, cataracts, retinal detachment, glaucoma, loss of eyelashes, or bleeding in the eyes. That is why it is also essential to consult an ENT specialist to protect and secure your vision during your radiation therapy.
Dental Problems
Numerous cancer treatment options have side effects that influence an individual’s mouth, teeth, and salivary glands. Dental and oral issues can make it challenging to talk, eat, chew, or swallow. 
As a result, many patients get dentures to support these kinds of problems. With good care, you and your doctor can bring down the danger of these side effects and manage them if they do happen.
In addition, your general dentist and a few other dental health professionals can assist with your dental care before, during, and after cancer treatment.
Bowel Problems
Radiation can bother the rectum and result in a condition called radiation proctitis. This can prompt diarrhea, at times with blood in the stool, and rectal spillage. Many of these issues disappear over time, yet usual bowel function does not return in rare conditions. To assist with diminishing bowel issues, you might be advised to follow a special diet during radiation therapy to help restrict bowel movement during treatment. Sometimes, doctors will place a balloon-like device between the rectum and prostate before the procedure to act as a spacer to reduce the measure of the radiation that arrives at the rectum.
Urinary Problems
High doses of radiation can also irritate the bladder, leading to a condition known as radiation cystitis. You may have to urinate more frequently, have a burning feeling while urinating, or potentially discover blood in your urine. Urinary issues typically work on over the long run, yet in some men, they never disappear.
Erection Problems
After a couple of years, the impotence rate following radiation therapy is equivalent to after surgery. Issues with erections mostly do not happen just after the treatment yet gradually develop over time. This is not the same as a surgical procedure, where impotence and erectile problems occur immediately and may improve over time.
In any case, similar to surgery, the older you are, the more possible it is to have problems with erections. Issues concerning this might benefit from treatment interventions such as those recorded in the surgery section, including medications.
Lymphedema
Lymph nodes typically give fluid to get back to the heart from all parts of the body. Suppose radiation therapy damages your lymph nodes around the prostate. In that case, fluid in your body can accumulate in the legs or genital region over time, resulting in pain and swelling. Though it may not disappear completely, your doctor may still recommend physical therapy to address lymphedema.
Exhaustion
Feeling tired is a common side effect of radiation therapy. In fact, radiation can cause fatigue that may not disappear until a few weeks or months following treatment stops.
Conclusion
Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in men. Radiation therapy is a potential treatment choice that applies concentrated waves of energy to kill cancer cells.
In any case, your doctor can use radiation alone, or they may deliver it together with other treatments like hormone therapy.
Know that your doctor can help you identify whether radiation therapy is suitable for you. Also, you may discover it helpful to join a support group to associate with others who have undergone the same treatment.
References:
Understanding Radiation Therapy.
External Beam Radiotherapy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/external-beam-radiotherapy
Computed Tomography (CT).
https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/computed-tomography-ct
Proctitis.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/proctitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20376933
Physical Therapy Guide to Lymphedema.
https://www.choosept.com/symptomsconditionsdetail/physical-therapy-guide-to-lymphedema
