SpaceOAR Hydrogel
- SpaceOAR Hydrogel is an absorbable gel that can ease side-effects many men experience while undergoing radiation for prostate cancer.
- Radiation can cause unintentional damage to the rectum leading to inconsistent bowel functions.
- An expert tells SurvivorNet that this gel is not considered a standard of care, so patients should talk to their physician to see if it would help them through the treatment process.
SpaceOAR Hydrogel is a minimally invasive procedure which uses an injectable and absorbable gel that can ease side-effects for men who are receiving radiation for prostate cancer. Since the rectum is very close to the prostate, radiation may cause unintentional damage to the rectum leading to bowel inconsistencies and more. To minimize side-effects, SpaceOAR Hydrogel creates a temporary space between the rectum and prostate for three months, which allows doctor’s to zero in on the prostate when administrating radiation and preserving healthy tissue in the rectum. After six months, the gel is absorbed completely.
Read MoreThis procedure was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2015, and is a valuable resource for men who are concerned about possible side effects from radiation. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting men, with nearly 192,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. However, Dr. Kamrava explains that the gel is not considered a standard of care, and therefore it’s up to the patient to bring it up to their physician to see if it would benefit their treatment process.
Related: Men With Early-Stage Prostate Cancer Can Now Spend Less Time Getting Radiation
“There are various reasons that SpaceOAR may not be offered,” Dr. Kamrava says. “There are also some patients for which SpaceOAR may not be appropriate. For example, high risk prostate cancer patients with extracapsular extension seen on their MRI. If a patient is interested in learning the pros/cons of using SpaceOAR they should definitely discuss it with their radiation oncologist.”
Prostate Cancer & Radiation: What To Know
When treating prostate cancer, there are two main types of radiation external beam radiation and brachytherapy (internal radiation).
Brachytherapy is an initial type of radiation, and comes in two forms: permanent low-dose brachytherapy and temporary high-dose brachytherapy. If patients undergo the temporary therapy, then it can be done as an outpatient visit which only takes one to two hours. Catheters are inserted into the prostate and the radioactive seeds are delivered through the catheters and then removed once the procedure is done. If you are given the permanent therapy, doctors will place radioactive seeds directly into the prostate and leaving them there, and the seeds slowly release radiation over several weeks or months.
Related: High-Dose Radiation: The Benefit May Outweigh The Risk
External beam radiation delivers high doses of radiation to the tumor in the prostate, and experts tell SurvivorNet that thanks to developing technology, doctors have become more precise in the amount of radiation administered and aiming more carefully.
“Over the last 10 [to] 15 years, we have done remarkable things with our technology that allows us to aim much more carefully, reduce the amount of radiation that nearby critical structures get, and thereby, get a higher dose in a quicker period of time,” Dr. Patrick Swift, a radiation oncologist at Stanford, tells SurvivorNet. “The last two or three years, about four studies have come out that have shown that we can reduce the period of time in which we deliver the radiation from nine weeks down to about five weeks. That’s a major change for the patients.”
Dr. Patrick Swift explains the basics of external beam radiation
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