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MRIdian radiotherapy

User
Posted 07 Apr 2023 at 11:51

Hi - recently diagnosed with intermediate risk prostate cancer after 6 years of PSA and MRI monitoring. Now looking to decide what treatment is best for me.


Has anyone on this forum got first hand personal experience of MRlidian radiotherapy that is available from Genesis Care in Oxford and London that you are willing to share with me, and others, via this forum?


I'm looking for input from people who have been through the MRlidian radiotherapy course of treatment. What was your experience of the process, and if known what was the outcome for you?

User
Posted 07 Apr 2023 at 14:05

Yes, I have had that treatment, in Oxford. I chose it because it offered a more targeted approach ( a loop in my bowel plumbing meant that my local onco team could not get a sufficiently clear shot at the target) and I was not keen on RP.


The experience itself is a breeze- collected and taken home by car, treatment times to suit me, everything on schedule, just 5 sessions to deal with and Pink Floyd on the headphones. No discomfort on the table unless you are claustrophobic.  Only one of the sessions was a bit fiddly in that they had to pause to deal with an errant gas bubble, but I was kind of pleased in that it suggested  that the real-time positional monitoring was working as intended.


Vey few after effects- I just had 2 days in the week after the last session when it was a good idea to stay close to a loo, but apart from that- nothing. I have had, and still have, more persistent effects from the 2 years of HT which preceded it. 


Has it worked? Who knows. It's 10 months on and my PSA is close to zero but that may be the Zoladex still hanging around. I'll know a bit more by the end of the year when the last remnants of the HT should have faded out. With any form of RT you don't have the neat finale of the surgeon coming alongside next morning and saying 'Congratulations, its a boy'- you just have to sit out the sequence of blood tests. But I am content with the choice I made. I had the rather large benefit of never being emotionally savaged by the whole diagnosis and decision-making thing, so although it took me quite a long time to get to the point of treatment, the low key nature of it in the end suited me nicely. 


Shout if there's anything else you need.

User
Posted 08 Apr 2023 at 02:16

There have been considerable advances in treating patients with RT in recent years and it seems highly likely that used in combination with an MRI scanner in real time improves on the effectiveness of treatment. Apart from the Oxford centre, they also have a facility at the London Cromwell in Kensington. The Royal Marsden have an installation that is different but works in a very similar way. It maybe possible to be treated within the NHS by referral, certainly worth enquiring about. I can't see it mentions which branch of the Royal Marsden has this machine but expect it to be at Sutton where I know they built a purchase designed extension for advanced RT. Also the Doctor (now Professor) advocating the combined machine was one of my Consultants at Sutton. https://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/mrlinac


 

Barry
User
Posted 11 Apr 2023 at 15:03
That sounds an impressive machine.

But I wonder whether the MRI image side of it really changes outcomes that much - no doubt there are clinical trials somewhere to find out. Once the anatomical location of your cancer has been found, and normally MRI would be combined with biopsy and possibly PET for investigating prostate cancer, then I would have guessed that a linear accelerator incorporating CT imaging would be equally good in ensuring each dose is given optimally to the identical location each time (i.e. adjusting for exact bladder and rectum fullness, and day-to-day positioning differences). Those machines are a bit more common though still relatively recent technology.
 
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