radiation therapy

erviins · New User Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 4

Hi,

My dad have mediastinum non-hodgkin's lymphoma, he now got all chemotherapy courses and now it`s up to him to decide wheather to take radioation therapy or not.
Please share some advices, what`s the risk of taking or not taking radiation therapy? what can be side effects? Is there other alternatives of radiation therapy i have heared something about thermo therapy, when your body is heated until 40 C degrees?

please share your opinion and advices.

Thanks,

Ervins

Orange Agent · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:40 am Post subject: Re: radiation therapy

This won't help a great deal but I'll tell you about my (almost) experience. After 4-1/2 months of chemo my doctor wanted to give me something like 6 weeks of radiation treatment. In that (in my case) the hospital didn't then have the facilities to give radiation treatment the doctor was going to have to refer me to a specialist. He told me in his opinion the closest to me wasn't the best (sometimes overtreated, as in burned) and recommended another doctor 20 some miles away.

Latter a PET Scan showed that my lymphoma had spread to two separate areas of my body and that radiation was no longer an option.

Luck

Burt
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Burt

wjsmith82 · Regular Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 13

Long term side effects can include secondary cancers, however, I believe the risk is minimal and needs to be assesed against the imediate benefit. In my case, the radiation was administered to neck and chest. In these areas I developed a slight rash and loss of hair. Towards the end of treatment, I developed a bad sore throat that effected swallowing but not speech. For me fatigue was not a problem. I have heard this is a common thing that effects different people in different ways. I should point out that I choose to have radiation even though there was no sign of cancer. I did so because addition of radiation to my treatment decreases the possibility of relapse.

Your dad should consider asking the radiologist about heart and lung with the involved field and risk to these organs.

I am not sure about thermal therapy, but cancer cell tend to be more vulnerable to heat than healthy cells. I know the adjuvant of heat and radiation is being looked at for synergisitic effect against cancer cells.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Bill

billsart · New User Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 5

For Lymphomas to the mediastinum he will probably recieve what is called a mantle field which includes the mediastinim and the surrounding lymph nodes. The lungs will be blocked out from the radiation and the hearts radiation tolerance will be taken into account.
The side effects associated with this type of treatment usually are:
fatigue
loss of appetite
skin reactions
dry or sore throat
possible difficulty swallowing

Remember that these side effects can happen but everyone is different. Some people have no side effects, some have a few side effects and some have all the side effects.

Tallking with your doctor is you best bet.
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jamesatkins · Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:11 am Post subject: Your Dad and Radiation.

Hi,
Im Jim ive had N.H.L. on and off for 23yrs.
Radiation is usually given if the chemo treatment has shrunken the tumor or nearly irradicated it but there are still cancer cells present at the site or sites.
The radiation is used to wipe out these left over cells but cant be used over the same radiated area.
It causes blistering, depending where it is given, i recieved it in the left upper leg/ groin area and i got burnt pretty badly because the skin is so tender there.
I hope i have helped in some way.
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JIMJIM

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