Bob:

From what I understand, and I'm not a doctor, the prostate becomes a
shrunken mass of scar tissue. What radiation does is essentially fry the
prostate tissue along with the tumor. If seeds were also used in the
treatment, they remain in the shrunken, fried mass of what was the once
the prostate. (This is why surgery after radiation is generally not
done, because of the surgeon's inability to successfully remove all of
what is left of the prostate). I would assume that the prostate volume
would be considerably less since it is now in a necrotic state. Perhaps
some of the other members in the ng who had radiation treatment can
answer this more specifically than my attempt.

B.A.

I can assure you the tissue remains! I have over 72cc of it squeezing
down hard on my Urethra, causing debilitating Nocturia, to prove that
post HDRB, mid July, 2005.

The HDRB Technician (not the Drs.) explained to me that they were
converting the whole of the Prostate into one Giant Blister!
So the tissue is not Fried but Boiled, albeit bad or good tissue.
(actually any form of this type of Surgical Intervention sets out to
do the same, if the Prostate is mapped correctly, initially.)
I have not had the Prostate measured externally since the HDRB, but it
feels like it has Enlarged! On my last Flexi-Cystoscopy, the Registrar
doing it commented "You have an extremely enlarged Prostate, the
Tissue has all healed cleanly, but the Urethra is curved, not parallel
and there are some bottlenecks causing partial Stricture. Yes you
would definitely benefit from a TURP and I will forward these Images
by email to your Urologist, right now"

Eagerly awaiting date to saddle up for the TURP!

Fried, Necrotic, Limp Balloon? I emphatically say NOT!!

-- Reader to complete...
-- Please reply to this ng as my email adress is fake:

-- Regards

-- CC

I had brachytherapy in Nov, 05.

I think my prostate has gotten a lot smaller.

I have had problems with flow for many years prior to the procedure, but
now, I piss like a horse.

really great!

j.

Well, since it has been four years out from hubby's last treatment,
brachytherapy after 5 weeks of EBRT on an IMRT, I can tell you something
about it. The prostate cells are killed along with the cancer cells after
brachytherapy. The prostate eventually shrinks to nothing more than seeds
and scar tissue. But no one ever said exactly what size that would be.
Hubby's radiation oncologist did a digital exam and said that unless someone
knew to feel for what remained they would swear my husband had a RP. Said
there was virtually nothing there, just the barest hint of what once was.

Classic EBRT will shrink the prostate and make it a "different" shape. I've
heard flattened, and lumpy in description over the years. But very slowly
the prostate can repair itself  so after quite a few years the prostate
often returns to its normal shape.

The prostate is one of the few body parts that can regenerate itself. It
cannot do this if there was sufficient coverage with brachytherapy as there
will be no prostate cells remaining.
Bev