The Cancer Chronicles: Brachytherapy

Sunday, May 12, 2013

What are the side effects of Brachytherapy?

Acute side effects:

At the site - bleeding, bruising, swelling, discharge, discomfort are common.
They last for a few days and resolve.
Fatigue is experienced like in all other RT techniques.
In case of skin cancer, desquamation (scaling) and ulceration maybe seen.
In case of prostate or cervical cancer, bowel and bladder complications are seen.
for example, urinary retention, incontinence (loss of control over bladder), dysuria (painful urination),etc.
Diarrhoea, increased frequency of bowel movements, constipation, minor rectal bleeding can be experienced.
Can be managed medically.

Dry desquamation of skin

Chronic side effects:

Usually related to damage done to nearby tissues or organs.
In case of skin cancer, scar tissue formation can be seen art the site of brachytherapy.
In case of breast cancer, swelling, tenderness can be experienced. This is mostly because of formation of 'fat-necrosis' which is benign in nature.