Anyone had experience of Brachytherapy treatment? Especially interesting if you had brachytherapy on tissue that had previous radiotherapy but am interested in any experiences of Brachytherapy.

Id also be interested to see if there is anyone also. I have done extensive research about this only yesterday. My dad had radiotherapy 2 years ago, then had a liver resection. In recovery his primary has grown back and on chemo now but wondered if he could brachytherapy in the future as they are wanting to do a full pelvic clearance. 
The information i found was… the longer ago the previous radiation was the better, if there is any damage/lasting effects from previous and how much radiation youve been exposed to. 
Its only used also for small tumours 

The biggest expert in the UK is Professor Arthur Sun Myint at Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital in Liverpool so if you are seriously interested you could try and get a referral to him or a private consultation if you can afford it.
I am more interested in patient experiences at this point

Yes, I had it, Jogey. Five weeks chemo and radio and  two weeks off (often you get a month just as a rest from coming into hospital- the oncologist said he'd forgotten why I was back two weeks later!). It is  fine- the most undignified process ever and everyone stands around you trying to play nice music and chat about Mr Bates vs The Post Office  to distract you. But I found it painless. You have a very gentle self administered enema on site on the day and follow a low fibre diet for three days before.

I didn't have any real side effects, I had some bleeding, mucus and discharge  on the day of the procedures (I did four at fortnightly intervals). I had a  LOT of mucus then from radiotherapy anyway. I had some tenesmus, which my oncologost warned me about, but I was leading an absolutely normal life between brachy sessions, travelled, ate out, had a job interview- it was a very different world to the initial treatment.

The downside is that there is some cell dysplasia and adenomatous tissue still at the site and they've said that if I have surgery (which is their preference) they would need to give me a temp ileostomy due to all the radiation I've had- so it doesn't get you right out of the woods necessarily. However, I know my scarring isn't extensive and I have had no long lasting symptoms.

Thanks for that info Lucy and I'm glad you had such a smooth experience 

Very interesting CxO in my case the radiation was aong time ago but although I have no symptoms, colonoscopy shows radiotherapy effects such as radiation proctitis

 https://community.macmillan.org.uk/members/kevh

Really sorry to read that . Have you read KevH story . Not sure if it’s the same context but I think he had radio first . 
Hope you get a good solution to put this firmly in the past .

Take care ,

Court 

Thanks for pointing out Kevs story. 
My Dad has rectal cancer with spread to liver. 
He had Radiotherapy then chemotherapy. He had a liver resection and his liver is now under control. In recovery from the liver op his primary has now grown back. 
Hes under the same hospital as kev but they have suggested radical surgery (TPE) i asked if re-radiation was an option and they said not. 
ive been looking into wether papillion would be an option (pending recent scans) im trying to do extensive research to see what would be the best options. 
It looks like Kev had both radiotherapy and papillion so this was an interesting read. 
thanks ️

Hi CxO https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg659/resources/lowenergy-contact-xray-brachytherapy-the-papillon-technique-for-locally-advanced-rectal-cancer-pdf-1899874172439493

Sorry to hear about your dad . He has come a long way so tough to face more . I have included the Nice guidelines. There does seem to be a debate over its use and the context . They asked for more research a few years ago . But if you read the guidelines I think it would limit other practitioners useage of it if they are advising reasearch purposes only .

I have absolutely no idea the clinical reasoning or what it’s all about. I have just seen the debate . Some have success but I have also communicated with others that had a further spread and not in an operable area initially . They did get treatment and made it to chemo in the end 
It’s not easy navigating everything but that’s the full discussion from both sides.  It’s really worked for KevH .

Take care ,

Court