A Patient's Guide to Prostate Cancer - Prostate Cancer Centre

Radioactive
seeds
prostate cancer without the need for a major
operation. It rarely causes loss of urinary control, and
impotence is less common than with surgery.
The side-effects of radiotherapy, in general, are
normally limited to patients having radical rather than
palliative treatment. External beam radiotherapy is
lengthier than surgery and often causes tiredness,
nausea, and diarrhoea, as well as frequent and painful
urination. Although most of these side-effects settle in
time, some will occasionally persist. With brachytherapy,
the side-effects are usually confined to the urinary
system, with patients temporarily experiencing a slow
flow and urinary frequency. Some patients may even
experience difficulty in passing urine at all after the
treatment and require a catheter (tube draining the
bladder through the penis) for a short period, normally
a week or two, before their urinary symptoms settle.
However, incontinence and impotence seem least
common with this form of treatment.
22
A Patient’s Guide to Prostate Cancer
Bladder
Prostate
gland
Urethra
Illustration
showing the
seeds lying in
the prostate
gland after
implantation.