The Colon Club

As I mentally prepare for April 3rd I realize I have no idea what to expect with radiation. Granted its not guaranteed that we'll be approved for it but I'm curious about it. DHs oncologist seemed excited to refer is to an in house radiation Doc even though she was told it was a tricky case and needed to consult other doctors beforehand.

What's the most common side effects, is it/can it be as debilitating as chemo, what should we expect before, during, and after.....

Tell me everything you can

What are they radiating?

Pyro wrote:What are they radiating?

The bigger spots on his liver.

What type of radiation are you talking about? If it is some kind of internal radiation therapy (e.g, brachytherapy), then you can read about it and its effects in the first article below. if it is a different kind of radiation therapy, then you can click on one of the other links on the left-hand side of the page of this article:

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/radiation/internal-radiation-therapy-brachytherapy.html


https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/treating/radiotherapy/internal-radiotherapy-explained/brachytherapy.html

My doctor told me that the HAI pump would not be an option for me if I did radiation. Have you asked about that? It’s practically only by chance that we found out!

I had SBRT to 2 liver mets in January. The tumor board thought this was a better way to get to the mets that were deep and tricky. They were around 2.5 cm each. The easiest to reach was done in one session that lasted about an hour and a half. The other had a different approach so they did in 3 fractions with a lower dose. The challenge during treatment for most with this is that you breathe in, hold for 20-30 sec. then breathe out. I'm a musician (flutist) so this was no big deal. Afterwards there weren't really side effects other than tiredness and a little nausea. I also didn't really want to eat, but I was still coming off of liver resection the month before and had not yet regained my appetite.

Is HIPEC worth it? It’s been around long enough now to be studied.

https://www.onclive.com/conference-cove ... vanced-crc

ginabeewell wrote:My doctor told me that the HAI pump would not be an option for me if I did radiation. Have you asked about that? It’s practically only by chance that we found out!

Agree with Gina! Radiation could eliminate the possibility of getting HAI treatment, so I'd think long and hard about that.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) are two types of radiation performed on liver tumors. IMRT is used when the tumors are close to critical organs or tissue. First they map your tumor in 3-D, then you have multiple sessions of radiation (commonly, five days a week for several weeks). With IMRT the radiation beam is shaped to the exact dimensions of your tumor so there's less collateral damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) combines IMRT and image-guided radiotherapy. They implant tiny markers into your tumor and use a CT scanner to guide the radiation to the tumor site. SBRT takes fewer sessions than IMRT (usually five or less).

texmexflute is right - SBRT requires "respiratory gating" - which is a fancy term for delivering radiation only at certain points in your breathing cycle. Holding your breath keeps the tumor from moving around when you're receiving radiation to minimize exposure to healthy tissue.

Have they mentioned RFA? Or is the tumor too large for it? RFA doesn't involve radiation so it leaves open the possibility of an HAI pump later on if he needs it.

Hope this helps!
Juliej

All good information. Julie you really got specific which I'm grateful for. We don't know what if there even are radiation options yet so I can't be sure what the "plan" is per say but its given me a lot of questions to ask.