Prostate Radiotherapy

Prostate radiotherapy uses precisely aimed high-energy X-rays, or radioactive sources placed in the gland, to destroy prostate cancer cells. It is a curative alternative to surgery for cancer confined to the prostate or nearby tissues, and is also used after surgery if PSA rises.

For localised disease, cure rates match those of prostatectomy. It spares you an operation, but side effects on bowel, bladder and erections can develop months or years later, and surgery after radiotherapy is difficult.

What Prostate Radiotherapy involves

Planning comes first. Tiny gold markers or a rectal spacer gel may be placed in or behind the prostate under local anaesthetic. A planning CT, often fused with MRI, is taken with a comfortably full bladder and empty rectum. Physicists and the oncologist design a plan using IMRT or VMAT so that dose wraps around the prostate and spares bowel and bladder. For each treatment you lie on the machine couch, imaging checks the prostate's position, and the beam is delivered for a few minutes. Standard courses are 20 daily sessions over 4 weeks; stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) uses 5 sessions over 1 to 2 weeks. Hormone therapy is added for intermediate and high risk disease for 6 months to 3 years.

Who is a good candidate for Prostate Radiotherapy?

It suits men with biopsy-proven prostate cancer who are fully staged.

• Localised low, intermediate or high risk prostate cancer
• Locally advanced cancer, combined with hormone therapy
• Men who are less fit for surgery or prefer to avoid it
• Rising PSA after prostatectomy (salvage radiotherapy)
• A few bone metastases causing pain, for palliation

It is usually not the right choice if:

• Men with low-risk cancer who are suitable for active surveillance
• Inflammatory bowel disease or previous pelvic radiotherapy
• Severe urinary obstruction, which may need treating first
• Men who cannot remain abroad for the full course
• Those unable to arrange PSA follow-up and hormone injections at home

الخيارات التقنية

• IMRT or VMAT, moderately hypofractionated: 20 sessions over 4 weeks; the current standard.
• Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT): 5 sessions; for low and intermediate risk disease, and practical for travellers.
• Brachytherapy: Permanent seeds or temporary high-dose sources placed in the gland under anaesthetic.
• Androgen deprivation therapy: Hormone injections or tablets that make radiotherapy more effective in higher risk cancer.
• Rectal hydrogel spacer: Moves the rectum away from the high-dose zone to reduce bowel side effects.

ماذا يحدث خلال علاجك

Each session takes 15 to 20 minutes in the room, with a few minutes of beam time. You feel nothing during treatment. You come as an outpatient every weekday. Bladder filling and bowel preparation before each session are the main nuisance.

الإعداد لرحلتك

Planning takes about a week, then treatment runs every weekday. Allow 2 to 3 weeks in total for a 5 session SBRT course and 5 to 6 weeks for a 20 session course. Hormone injections can be continued by your doctor at home.

• Tell the doctor about medication, allergies, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and any history of cold sores, keloid scars or autoimmune disease
• Avoid alcohol, aspirin and anti-inflammatory painkillers for a few days beforehand if your own doctor agrees, to reduce bruising
• Arrive without make-up on the treatment area and avoid sunbeds and strong sun for two weeks before

التعافي والنتائج

Urinary frequency, burning, loose stools and tiredness build up in the second half of the course and settle over 4 to 8 weeks afterwards. Most men carry on with normal life throughout. PSA falls slowly over 18 to 24 months and is checked every 3 to 6 months. Late effects can appear after a year or more.

• Back to everyday activity: Little; tiredness late in the course
• When results show: PSA falls over 18 to 24 months
• How long they last: Long-term control in most localised cancers

سياسة السلامة والمخاطر والتنقيح

Side effects divide into early ones that settle and late ones that may persist.

• Urinary frequency, urgency and a weaker stream during and after treatment
• Rectal irritation, with long-term bleeding or urgency in about 5 in 100
• Erectile dysfunction developing gradually in 30 to 50 in 100 over several years
• Fatigue that builds during the course and lifts within weeks
• Hot flushes, loss of libido, weight gain and bone thinning from hormone therapy
• Urethral stricture, which is uncommon
• A small increase in second cancers in the pelvis decades later

Every written proposal arranged through Clinic-Y states what the clinic covers if a correction is needed. Ask for it before you book, not after.

Cost of Prostate Radiotherapy in Türkiye

Clinic-Y does not publish a single price for Prostate Radiotherapy, because the honest figure depends on your case. What moves it:

• Technique and number of sessions
• Whether brachytherapy, markers or a rectal spacer are used
• Staging with MRI and PSMA PET-CT
• Duration of hormone therapy
• Accommodation for a stay of several weeks

Send your photographs or reports and you receive written, all-inclusive proposals from suitable teams, side by side. Reviewing your case is free.

الأسئلة المتكررة