Has anyone had experiance with radioactive seed implants in the tongue? What should I expect? Ed

Hi Ed,

I had them in the tongue. Having them in was not too painful, but the after effects of the treatment (skin reaction etc) seemed to be similar to normal radiation treatment.

Before the treatment I was fitted with a lead mouth shield. It was like having a brace with a palate section, except it covered the base of the mouth under the tongue, not the palate.

I went under general anesthetic to have the radioactive wires implanted. They were inside thin plastic tubing and were inserted into the neck under the chin which went through the neck and up through the tongue. They were held in place at either end by something small, I never got a good look at it. Also a feeding tube was inserted through my nose, as you can't put anything in your mouth while you have them in.

They were implanted for 5 days. I was in a room in the "radioactive" section of the hospital and could not leave the room during the treatment. Visitors could only come for 10 or 20 minutes a day and had to stand behind a lead screen to limit exposure to radiation. The nurses came in as little as possible for the same reason. I was lonely as I was used to having lots of human contact when I had previous surgeries. I was also a bit confused as I was sedated most of the time.

However I could move around the room and read, watch TV etc. I used my mobile phone to keep in touch with my family via textmessages - the predictive text feature was very useful. Maybe you could also use a laptop to send emails or watch DVDs, if you have one and are up to it.

The wires were removed under local anesthetic after 5 days. They just slid them out. This was a bit uncomfortable, but more because I was upset at the time rather than real pain. Then I was free to go home the next day (they had to watch me for a while in case of bleeding).

About 1 week later my mouth started to show a reaction which lasted about 6 weeks in total. It was very difficult to eat or even drink during this time. I recommend you do some research on the board regarding foods to eat and special painkilling mouthwashes etc to help you get through this period. When it got really bad I could only drink water or babymilk through a straw. But eventually it got better and now I can eat most things as long as they are not spicy (9 months later).

Hope you find this info useful. Let me know if you have any other questions, and best of luck!

Redser

Thanks for your reply. I think I am getting something else. At least I think they told me that the seeds would be implanted at the time the gland was removed but would stay in forever. Also, I am scheduled for only a one day hospital stay? Ed

Ed, I also had brachytherapy done sort of like Redser described it. I was in the hospital for 7 days. I am curious to the type you will be having. The seeds are implanted and stay in? If you feel up to it, please post and let us know how they are going to do this. I am curious. Take care and wishing you the best. Linda

It's called LDR Brachytherapy and the seeds are indeed permanent. It was developed originally for prostate cancer, as are almost all H&N treatment technigues (3D Conformal, IMRT, PBT, etc.).

This link will explain the difference between permanent vs temporary brachytherapy (HDR).
http://www.prostate-cancer.com/brachytherapy/cancer-treatments/tools-of-brachytherapy.html

They have had a very good success rate with this treatment for the prostate. See: http://www.whatsnextnetwork.com/hea...permanent_radiation_seed_implants_increa

It sounds like your experience will be radically different than the people here having the HDR type.

We will be very interested to know the results and side effects of your treatment.

Ed,

I think Gary's right -- I can only recall a few of us posting here about having brachytherapy, and from what I remember of those posts, it was most likely the HDR type, which requires a hospital stay for the duration.

Cathy

Tks everyone. I have been wondering why I wasn't hearing from someone on this issue. Now I see I may be a first. I will get back in a few weeks when this is done. Ed

hi everyone: short msg to say I got my facts wrong. I will in fact in addition to the seeds be required to do 4 to 6 weeks of daily radiation therapy. Oh well. Ed

Thr RT is probably more prophylactic in nature since the brachytherapy is highly targeted.

In PBT therapy they also add IMRT becuase of the precise nature of PBT.

It's not much different than surgery in that they want to insure clean margins. They are just using RT for that.