Side Effects of Mammosite Radiation Therapy
Comments
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Thanks for responding. I am so glad I found this web site! Anyway, I'm sure the weights and weight loss are a good idea. I am a swimmer but have a few more weeks before I can swim. I like that exercise because it really does not hurt the breast at all. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
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Hi Judy! I also have a home here in Ft. Myers and just had my MRI last night. Was looking for some advice on a good surgeon...want to do mammosite but the first surgeon I saw does not offer it. The one who does...cancelled my appointment yesterday but that is another story. Don't know if they allow to post e-mails on here or not but....lauriesold@aol.com.
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Travels247,
I just sent you a private message with the name of a BS in Tampa.
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Hi Travels247
I have a wonderful breast surgeon I can personally recommend to you in Fort Myers FL and she specializes in mammosite. I have a girlfriend who just had surgery by this female doctor and I have several women who I counsel for American Cancer Society in Fort Myers FL who have used her and are very happy with her. My email address is pjc6657@embarqmail.com and I will be delighted to give you further information and help you in any way I can. Please contact me.
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I had my radiation during the week of Valentine's this year. Had some physical therapy to reduce the scar tissue and break up the facia tissue. Post PT, I was told to massage the area to keep breaking up the tough tissue.
When massaging last night, I got some clear discharge from my nipple. I am thinking it's seroma fluid somehow escaping through a duct. Called my radiologist and she told me to hold off on any massage and restart in a week and see if it happens again.
Had anyone experienced this also?
Thanks
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I was diagnosed with DCIS on May 5, 2011. I had two lumpectomies, was scheduled for a third (!), but my radiation oncologist felt comfortable letting me forego the third surgery and have multi-lumen mammosite to take care of any residual tumor. (The surgeon and the pathologist disagreed on which side of my tissue sample the tiny remaining cancer was found.)
After the radiation, I saw a medical oncologist, and she expressed great surprise that I was allowed to have mammosite radiation, rather than whole breast, when there was some debate as to whether I had clear margins. This was upsetting to me, but it is too late change what I had done. She did put me on Tamoxifen, and so far, after ten days, I am feeling no side effects, which is a big plus I'm told!
I AM having a very painful seroma where the mammosite balloon was seated. My surgeon drained 55 cc's of clear serum from it a week ago, but the fluid build up is clearly back, and it is a hard, painful lump. It bothers me some during the day (a dull ache), and it bothers me a great deal at night when I accidentally roll onto my side or stomach. If anyone has any ideas for treating the seroma, I would love to hear them!! Or, perhaps you can estimate how long it may take for the seroma to go away. Thank you so much.
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I had surgery for my first IDC BC in Dec 2009, followed by mammosite in January 2010...The surgeon kept me on an antibiotic from the surgery until the end of mammosite, therefore, no infections at the insertion site. Some pain and heat, especially the end of that 10 session experience. No problems whatsoever with pain since. Even taking it out, which was described to me like pulling off a bandaid quickly, was no problem.
Second diag this year in February was DCIS, too close to the chest wall (left side) for mammosite. Had to have whole breast - much more se's than the balloon ever was...Would I do a mammosite again? In a heartbeat...spoken from someone that has had both...
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I had a clean bill of health from my medical oncologist last month. He was pleased with the result of my bone density test which is 'normal', even after a year and a half on arimidex. During my visit the Dr. did notice the existence of my seroma - which has returned since I had it aspirated 1/29/11. I have been dealing with it with the assistance of pain pills, but it has started bothering me so-o-o much I finally gave in and made an appt. for another aspiration 7/11/11. I'm not looking forward to the procedure, but I am looking forward to the relief. I guess this is a small price to pay for beating this 'thing' - for which I am greatful - but it certainly is not pleasant.
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Thank you both for sharing your experience with seroma and Mammosite. Since I haven't had to have whole breast radiation, I have nothing to compare my experience to. I will concentrate on feeling grateful for mammosite and try to quit complaining about the seroma! The pain does come and go, but sometimes, it just wears me down.
Jingram, please let me know how your aspiration goes. When I had mine, I think the fluid was all back within 24 hours----sounds like your first one may have lasted a while. I have a follow-up appointment with my surgeon on 7/12/11, and he'll see that my seroma is back. If it's just going to come right back, I don't see the point in having him aspirate it again, but those few hours without it sure are nice : ).
I think I most appreciate everyone's reminders that the side effects are the "small stuff." The BIG thing is that we're alive.0 -
For those who are concerned about SEs with Mammosite (or Contura, etc.) --
BC patients are generally told the alternatives are Whole Breast Irradiation, Partial Breast Irradiation (Mammosite, Contura, etc.), or no radiation. However, there's ANOTHER alternative as well.
That alternative is Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT). You can read about it here: http://www.breastcanceriort.org/.
IORT is one dose of radiation that's delivered DURING surgery. A round applicator is inserted into the surgical cavity and the radiation is given right to the place where the cancer was. There is very little risk to internal organs, there's no possibility of skin burning (unless the tumor was very close to the skin), and the chance of seroma is very, very small. There's no balloon that stays in the breast so there's no prohibition against showering, and no increased risk of infection.
Basically IORT has all the positives of Mammosite but none of the negatives.
This is NOT a new or experimental procedure. It's been done for more than 50 years, primarily in Europe. However, it's not very widely available. If you want it you'll have to look around for a doctor who does IORT, and you might have to travel for your surgery.
The reason it's not done widely available is that radiation oncologists don't like to do it, because they don't make much money from a one-time procedure. They make a lot more from giving you 20 to 40 whole breast irradiation zaps.
IORT also isn't appropriate for some people. Different doctors have slightly different opinions about who makes an appropriate patient, but in general they prefer to give it to older patients whose cancer is relatively small and not very advanced. A 60-year-old with a small DCIS stage 0 is ideal, but others can qualify as well.
So if you'd like to avoid whole-breast irradiation but are concerned about Mammosite SEs, check out IORT.
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IORT I was told was only for non invasive cancer.
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kira1234, I don't know if that's true about IORT, but this thread IS in the "similar diagnosis: DCIS" section. I see you have ILC, possibly you picked up the thread when it was trending and showed up in Active Topics.
Anyway- I'm happy to see the gripes people have with Mammosite, because they seem much milder than the gripes people have after whole breast irradiation. It's good to see the partial/local approach is catching on, for those with the appropriate situation for it.
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I am aware it's in the DCIS thread. If you look at those who are responding many are stage 1 as I am. It is something that needs to be recognised when recommending a treatment.
By the way I was responding to cycle-path's message.
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bump
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kira, IORT is sometimes used with localized invasions if it's felt the invasion hasn't gone to the nodes or elsewhere, or instead of a boost when more invasive cancer is found. I think it's also used with people who have invasive cancer if it's believed their health won't tolerate full-blown radiation.
But you're correct that the main use is for non-invasive cancer.
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I wish it had been offered to me, but am thankfulthe mammasite type treatment was offered. I wonder if there was concern because my BC is ILC rather than IDC.
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August 18th will be the date of the end of my one-year anniversary of the Contura balloon five-day treatment.
All of my one-year tests currently show no recurrence or new disease. My ultrasound showed the presence of a seroma, but I have had NO pain or problems with it so far, for which I am grateful. I credit my surgeon, Dr. Walker for providing a cavity which Dr. Quiet my radiologist described as "perfect" for the treatment, even though the tumor was somewhat close to the edge of my breast and underarm.
I would choose the Accelerated Partial Breast treatment again in a heartbeat, especially because of my age and physical condition.
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Congratulations wonderwatcher on your one-year anniversary! I too have just celebrated my five-year anniversary with Mammosite and I have been declared clean! Complaining about the pain I get from my two benign cysts that developed from Mammosite, my radiation oncologist told me I should lose four to five pounds because I was stretching the incision and causing pain. Can you believe no one ever told any of us that? So, I have rapidly been cutting down and dropping weight and the pain has been going away or not bothering me at all. He noticed I have red lines around the incision area and again that is caused by my boobs gaining weight and the incision expanding. Otherwise, I am so thankful!!!
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Judy, thanks for the info. If I start having pain, I will remember to lose a few pounds.
How long after the Mammosite before the cysts developed?
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Hello Everyone and worldwatcher:
For those of you who haven't read this blog from the beginning, I wanted to let you know that I had my mammosite July 11, 2006. It was only three months later that I experienced my first cyst. On Christmas Eve day, it bothered me so much I had to have it aspirated with a needle and the doctor removed quite a bit of fluid. Three months later, the same cyst filled up again with fluid. My oncologist told me he couldn't keep aspirating because infections could occur. I have stayed with the periodic pain and about two years ago, another cyst formed close to my original incision. Same thing with the fluid. Doctor assured me both cysts are benign and I have chosen to keep them just as they are and to manage pain whenever it occurs. Today, I am breast-cancer free and I celebrated my five-year anniversary July 11, 2011.
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Hello, I have been reading many posts from this site. As it is now 2011, I am wondering how you are doing? My mother is going for a lumpectomy Sept. 6th and as it stands she has decided on the MammoSite. They are still doing it. What I am wondering, is if you know of or have heard on any similar stories from the traditional 6 wk radiation therapy? Are these sides affects refered to in these posts only from MammoSites or any type of radiation? Please let me know your thoughts on this, as time is quickly approaching for my mother to make her decision.
Thank you,
Concerned Daughter- Chris
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I think what Judy, above, is talking about is a seroma rather than a cyst per se. Seromas are indeed a common complication of mammosite and similar therapies.
Chris, you asked, "Are these sides affects refered to in these posts only from MammoSites or any type of radiation?"
Which side effects specifically are you referring to?
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I wish I had not had a MammoSite. I had problems with it after 3 days and they had to remove it. I have had fluid drained twice. Now after 5 1/2 years I am still sore. I was sent a surgeon to see if they could remove any of the scar tissue and he tells me I will not heal and he is not sure it is all scar tissue. Yesterday ( Sept 26) I had an MRI and tomorrow I will have yet another needle biopsy.
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After 5 1/2 years the pain is till with me. I wish I had not had a MammoSite.
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Just to give you the other perspective, I had tape burn problems at the time, and it isn't handy having an exposed catheter when you have to deal with it alone, but I haven't had any problems post treatment.
Radiologist got a bit excited at my next mammogram, as she could see the radiated margin clerarly, but once she confirmed that I'd had the Mammosite radiation, there was no problem.
HTH,
LisaAlissa
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Hi Ladies:
Happy to see this blog is finally starting again. My comment is for forrester2. I am sorry to hear about your experience with mammosite surgery and all the pain and discomfort you have. From my experience talking with breast cancer survivors and reading, some doctors are not equipped to do mammosite surgeries and have no business doing them. It is possible that you didn't qualify for mammosite and the doctor didn't realize it until it was too late. I've heard several stories where mammosite was not successful and women had to have full radiation. I would suggest you seek out a breast cancer specialist or talk with your radiation oncologist. I have just read More magazine, September issue, and I am recommending it to all of you to read about breast cancer. Nothing there about mammosite, but you can see what we need to be concerned about. Excellent issue. I just read about a new cutting edge radiation procedure where a seed is inserted through a needle biopsy and this makes it easier to pinpoint the breast cancer for mammosite surgery. After five years and two fluid-filled cysts later, I am a survivor and would do it again only better!!!
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I had a lumpectomy on Sept. 15th and had a catheter and spacer in place for MammoSite radiation. But when I went for the CT scan on Sept. 19th, the radiation oncologist told me that the site was too close to the surface of the breast. I needed 5 cm/mm? and I only had 4.6. So the catheter and spacer were removed and I'll do the 7 week full breast irradiation. I am still really depressed, but I'm grateful that I avoided the potential problems. I wonder if some of the problems cited here are the result of doctors not following (or not knowing) the protocol?
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I had mammosite radiation in January 2010...I went for a six month mammogram yesterday and they wanted "additional pictures" of the mammosite area...apparently they are seeing calcifications around the irradiated area...My surgeon, who is quite aware of the protocol of this type of radiation, told me that sometimes, the fat cells create their own calcifications as a result of this localized radiation. I had two options: do a new stereo in that area or wait and see what it looks like 6 months from now...She is pretty confident that it's not a recurrance so I went with her best judgement and I'll see what happens 6 months from now...Didn't know this could be a side effect of mammosite...
Just sayin'
Rita
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tvcrat and ritaz: tvcrat - thank you for clarifying for some of us who don't understand what qualifying for a mammosite involves. It has to be just the right space and ccms. As I and many of the ladies responding on this blog have said, my cysts or seromas or calcifications formed after my mammosite was finished and the balloon had been removed (the balloon was five years ago). That is because air gets in the surgical spot where the mammosite was and forms bubbles, cysts, etc. and they are filled with fluid and that is whh we have all the pain. All the answers are already in this blog if you read it from start to finish. Nothing new or different is occurring with mammosite now. All of us on this blog are responding because we have all experienced something at some time from mammosite. I still would do it again if necessary. Whatever you are experiencing, ritaz, I'm pretty sure will not go away. I do recommend gentle massaging and a lot of prayers.
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I just wrote a post, then hit the wrong button
, so I will try again.Your posts are important validations for me.
I had my first seroma aspirated January 29, 2011 - about a year after the completion of my mammosite treatment. I did experience relief, with the help of vicodin prescribed first by my radiaion oncologist, then my primary, until June/July 2011. I had a second aspiration July 11, 2011. My cavity was back until July 14, 2011, with the return of the fluid. My seroma became quite bothersome July 23, with intense pressure. By the end of July, the full blown seroma was back.
My husband has pointed out that this blog is for those of us who have not had full breast radition. I, for one, am not aware of the side effects those who have had full breast radition experience. I can handle the 'radiation brain' I have, although quite bothersome, and the seroma. I don't want anything more. I much prefer the devil I know than the devil I don't. If I had to choose again, I would choose mammosite. Hopefully, I won't have to make that choice!
God bless you all!
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