You got that right.
I knew I had prostate cancer about 7 years before the biopsies proved it. I had all the symptoms and It took 3 sets of biopsies years apart to detect it.
I wanted the radioactive seeds implanted but my prostate was so large they didn't want to take a chance it might enlarge it more.
It ended up I got radiated for 42 days Mon- Fri.
Because your prostate moves around about a quarter of an inch on a day to day basis , and to avoid screwing up other body parts in that area; they inserted 2 Gold slivers into my prostate so they could target it exactly on each day of the radiation. Years ago many people were destroyed by radiation hitting outside the prostate and causing the people to have a miserable lifestyle. -tom
“Because your prostate moves around about a quarter of an inch on a day to day basis , and to avoid screwing up other body parts in that area; they inserted 2 Gold slivers into my prostate so they could target it exactly on each day of the radiation.”
A recent development to deal with that problem is the “Calypso 4d” system:
“The Calypso® 4D Localization Tracking System requires three beacon electromagnetic transponders permanently placed in the prostate gland. These transponders measure approximately 8mm,are not radioactive and do not emit ionizing radiation to the patient.
These beacons send information to the 4D Tracking System that continuously monitors your prostate location and its movement. If your prostate moves beyond a given range, radiation delivery is then paused, realignment is performed, and treatment resumed when the prostate location is back in range.”
A friend had this last year and it seemed to work very well (i.e, no residual/misplaced radiation effects). It only took one biopsy to dx my PCa. I had a robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy in early ‘04, when there were just a couple of hospitals doing it.
Hope all is well...