Cancer Treatment Options Forum - June 22nd, 2011 - 5 Comments
CANCER – radiation side effects?
My father had esophagal cancer which was operated, after operation he went through radiation. the radiation dose was 64 Gy, out of which last 24 Gy has been given by hyperfractionated radiation. Followed by that he was treated with intraluminal brachy therapy 10 Gy in 2#(weekly once)
He has tolerated the above treatement well. I want to know for how many days has he to suffer side effects and what are the side effects of this treatment?
The esophagus, part of the digestive tract, is a tube that connects the throat with the stomach. It lies between the trachea (windpipe) and the spine. In an adult, the esophagus is about 10 inches long.
When a person swallows, the muscular walls of the esophagus contract to push food down into the stomach. Glands in the lining of the esophagus produce mucus, which keeps the passageway moist and makes swallowing easier.
The esophagus, like all other organs of the body, is made up of many types of cells. Normally, cells divide to produce more cells only when they are needed. This orderly process helps keep the body healthy.
Radiation Therapy-
External beam or internal radiation, delivered by machine or implanted near cancer cells inside the body, is only rarely used as the primary form of treatment. Post-operative radiation is sometimes used to kill cancer cells that couldn’t be surgically removed. Palliative radiation
is effective in relieving dysphagia in patients who cannot be cured. However, radiation is most useful when combined with chemotherapy as either the definitive treatment or preoperative treatment.
A total dose of 64Gy is relatively very high and it will have very bad side effects. Probably due to the stage of cancer, his age and general health condition, he has tolarated well. For the similar dose and I know a patient is suffering for the past one and a half years due to radiation proctities. Only time will cure and nothing can be said now. However please have the check up by your Oncologist regularly atleast once a month. My wishes are with him for a speedy recovery..-
The treatment causes severe tiredness. If you ask his doctor maybe he/she could explain the side effects for you better.
I had radiation to the neck area. I had an incredible sore throat after a few treatments. It went away shortly after the radiation treatments stopped.
Best wishes
I pass aready for the same thing during the radiation I feel little I weak as remember that all , o and kind of burn skin skin white to brown. Other peopl;e have nausias during the tradiation. I trecoment you a medication Florensence is fer people who having nadiation .
Depends on where he is being treated at. Most symptoms stop when the treatment stops – more of the common problems during treatment can be…fatigue, saliva glands backing up, hair loss, being burnt from the radiation, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting. It all really depends on where he is receiving treatment at. There are medications he can take to minimize the side effects. Permanent symptoms…sometimes the hair doesn’t grow back, sometimes you can itch where the hair loss was, sometimes it can take a while for saliva glands to start working again. Radiation can make your thyroid stop working and can also cause secondary cancers like leukemia, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer.
I hope your father does well and recovers very quickly!