Proton For Prostate

The words I just heard from Dr. Brian McKibben, colon and rectal surgeon in Jacksonville, Florida. I am here to see him concerning ongoing rectal bleeding eight months following completion of proton therapy for prostate cancer at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute.

It was stated by Dr. Nancy Mendenhall, my oncologist at the UFPTI, in her December 5 presentation to a group of about 250 of us, that about 3% of men receiving proton therapy for prostate cancer have colon issues that require treatment. Unfortunately for me, I have now joined that group.

My understanding from Dr. McKibben is there are two possible issues with the colon following proton therapy. One shows up in about one year and involves the capillaries. We heard this talked about during therapy at the UFPTI. The other, which I have and which he described as "more problematic", is an ulcer in the colon, which will present itself shortly after six months. This is something that I do not recall ever hearing about at the UFPTI.

It appears that the treatment I now need to try to correct the damage, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, will be "substantially more time consuming" than receiving the proton treatment at the UFPTI. Dr. McKibben says he will start with 30 treatments, and if that does not work I will need 30 more. If it gets into 60 treatments we are talking about a lot of time at a hospital, and then we will change "substantially more time consuming" to "far more time consuming." The treatment will be at a local hospital in the area where we live.

Feb 28: I received a call before 10:00 direct from Dr. McKibben to tell me that he has set up an appointment for me at 10:00 on March 5 at Rockdale Medical Center near where we live. It is there that I will receive the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Dr. McKibben wants to see me 3-4 weeks after the treatment is completed. At that time he will evaluate me to see if I need to go through it for an addition 30 treatments. He certainly has already opened the door to that possibility.

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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a hazard of scuba diving. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that won't heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.

In a hyperbaric oxygen therapy room, the air pressure is raised up to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather up to three times more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.

Your blood carries this oxygen throughout your body, stimulating the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.

LINK to the above