Is Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Safe?

The research behind radiation therapy (also known as radiotherapy) has been studied since the late 1800s, with modern applications of radiotherapy for cancer treatment introduced around 60 years ago. It has quite a few advantages over a full prostate removal and avoids complications associated with going under anesthesia, with a lower risk of urinary incontinence as well. However, the idea of treating your tumor with radiation may still invoke some fear for you and those close to you. Knowing exactly what radiotherapy is and what precautions need to be taken can alleviate some of those fears.

Notably, radiation can cause DNA damage in cells and subsequently increases your risk of cancer. To mitigate this, radiotherapy is strategically planned to minimize the dose given and risks of bringing about a second cancer, while maximizing the therapeutic benefit to you.

Initially, your cancer care team will carefully develop a safe and effective treatment plan for you based on your case details. This will focus on attacking the tumor sites, all while protecting your healthy tissues by limiting exposure as much as possible. This plan will be reviewed and monitored by machines that will manage the amount of radiation applied and ensure that the correct sites are being targeted throughout your treatment.

You may worry about whether radiation therapy will prevent you from being close with your partner, children or loved ones. While necessary in some situations (e.g. low-dose brachytherapy), this isn’t always the case. Usually, it depends on the type of treatment you undergo. Some treatments require radiation to stay in your body, but in others, radiation will either be eliminated quickly or simply pass through the targeted part of your body in a few seconds.

For example, external radiation therapy (e.g. intensity modulated radiation therapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy) is applied from a machine outside your body, and only shoots radiation at your cells for a moment. As no radiation source will remain in your body, you will not be considered radioactive or dangerous after your treatment.

However, in internal radiation therapy such as radiopharmaceutical treatment, radioactive material may travel throughout your whole body instead, leaving some radiation in your body until your body has fully eliminated it. The radioactive content may leave your body through bodily fluids, including blood and urine. As such, you may need to take some special precautions to limit the radiation exposure to your family and the people around you.

Generally, these precautions for radiotherapy may only need to be followed for a few days after your treatment. However, it is essential to follow your doctor’s advice for your specific treatment, as not all radiation treatments work the same way. A few examples include the following:

• Separating laundry from the rest of your household (e.g. clothes, towels, bedsheets)
• Double-flushing the toilet, and washing your hands well
• Separating utensil use
• Avoiding kissing or sexual contact (usually for a minimum of one week)
• Depending on your treatment, you may need to keep a specific distance away from others in your household, for a short period of time
• Avoiding contact with children and pregnant women for a certain amount of time
• Drinking more fluids to urinate more often, which can help to flush out radioactive material from your body

Permanent low-dose brachytherapy requires a few more specific precautions, as it delivers radiation over a longer period of time (e.g. 1 to 2 years), through seeds placed in your body.

• If you intend to travel, you may need a doctor’s note to explain your treatment, as the radiation may trigger airport detection systems
• Due to the risk of seeds being displaced, you may be asked to pass your urine through a strainer for about a week, as well as to wear condoms during sex. If you do pass a seed, you should not touch it, but instead use tweezers or a spoon to pick it up for storage in a closed container away from others

Overall, radiation therapy has rapidly advanced over the past few decades, serving as an important option in treating prostate cancer. Precautions for radiation therapy are also continually being assessed, to ensure safe treatment delivery for patients. While all cancer treatments do come with a certain degree of risk, you can rest assured here that the best precautions have been studied to keep you and your loved ones safe as you undergo treatment.