Guest guest Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 gamlingman wrote: > Has anyone heard of this technique? I was all set to begin > Proton Radiation in about 8 weeks from now but a guy at my > health spa just finished with Calypso here in Miami. He claimed > no side effects and he feels great. > > I'm shocked as I have never ever heard of this. Anyone? I believe that " Calypso " is ordinary external beam radiation, like IMRT, but that target seed transponders are implanted in the prostate so that, if the prostate moves during treatment, the x-ray machine can " see " the motion and adjust the beams. I would think that how helpful it is would depend on: 1) What targeting technique it is compared against. Some docs implant gold seeds and check for movement using x-rays. Some just use x-rays and check once a week. Some check more or less often than that. Some use CT scans. 2) Whether the rad onc is treating a narrow or wide area. If he's treating the prostate and the area one centimeter around it (as mine did), then precise targeting may be a bit less important - though I'm not certain about that. 3) How much your prostate moves. I don't think all men are the same in that regard. 4) How accurately the doc places the seeds. It's a refinement. It's not a revolution. The lack of side effects probably has very little to do with Calypso. The external beam radiation is the same as what other men get who don't use Calypso. Some men who have EBRT have significant side effects, some don't. A lot of the side effects, including urinary obstruction and loss of potency, don't have to do with x-rays that miss the target but with x-rays that hit it. A good part of that is dose dependent. I don't think any of those kinds of side effects will be more or less with Calypso. Personally, I think it is less productive than one might think to chase the latest and greatest treatment technique. Personally, I think that proton beam, IMRT, Calypso, brachytherapy, Cyberknife, all the forms of surgery, etc., can all work well or work poorly. I'm not criticizing Calypso. It looks like a good idea to me. I would certainly be willing to consider it. But I think the key thing is to get an excellent doctor who is knowledgeable, experienced, highly skilled, and deeply committed to his patients. I recommend that you spend at least as much, if not more, of your time evaluating the doctors as evaluating the technology. Best of luck. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Calypso is the registered trademark for a form of radiation that claims to deliver more accurate doses of radiation more quickly. It is some time since I had a good look, but most of the sites at that time were focused on selling the machinery to radiologists on the basis that they could deal with more patients per day! Not quite what I’d be looking for if I were considering the procedure as a patient. If you put Calypso Radiation into Google you’ll find many entries and can evaluate the procedure for yourself. I think I’m right in saying you won’t find any long term results – unlike Proton Beam. All the best Terry Herbert I have no medical qualifications but I was diagnosed in ‘96: and have learned a bit since then. My sites are at www.yananow.net and www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za Dr “Snuffy” Myers : " As a physician, I am painfully aware that most of the decisions we make with regard to prostate cancer are made with inadequate data " From: ProstateCancerSupport [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of gamlingman Sent: Wednesday, 3 February 2010 10:24 AM To: ProstateCancerSupport Subject: Calypso Radiation Has anyone heard of this technique? I was all set to begin Proton Radiation in about 8 weeks from now but a guy at my health spa just finished with Calypso here in Miami. He claimed no side effects and he feels great. I'm shocked as I have never ever heard of this. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Sorry! A few 'Rioja' fingers in that last post! It's 2am here. CC Calypso Radiation Has anyone heard of this technique? I was all set to begin Proton Radiation in about 8 weeks from now but a guy at my health spa just finished with Calypso here in Miami. He claimed no side effects and he feels great.I'm shocked as I have never ever heard of this. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 > > Has anyone heard of this technique? I was all set to begin Proton Radiation in about 8 weeks from now but a guy at my health spa just finished with Calypso here in Miami. He claimed no side effects and he feels great. > > I'm shocked as I have never ever heard of this. Anyone? > Gamlin, I echo Chris' sentiments. Calypso is IMRT with IGRT (Image Guided) via the beacons. It ensures that the full dosage (81Gy) of Radiation Therapy over the period of treatment gets to the affected area precisely. It allows for Real-Time monitoring and application of the beam to the prostate gland as the beams are applied during Tx. Equally important, it helps narrow down the Radiation Field more precisely, so that you aren't radiating the bladder or bowel area directly. I belive Calypso is developing this technology for other types of this disease as well. During conventional IMRT, prior to daily treatment,they line up your tatoos (boney anatomy) with lasers. I felt I had a much better comfort level, once they adjusted me with the Calypso System,(IGRT). That is, they would align me with the lasers, then the Calypso system would guide them down say another inch or right or left another inch. I am told this ensures the beam is accurate to 1 CM or .375 inches; others say, it is more accurate to like .25 inches, - that is the kind of precision I like, I would've prefered perfect, but hey, I'll roll with the latest and greatest. One other safety factor with Calypso, is that if you moved, shifted, burped, or farted to any great degree, the beam application would shut down if you shifted outside the telemetry, that's what we mean by Real Time application. Prior to treatment (Tx) the Beacons must be implanted surgically in a procedure similar to a needle biopsy, usually in an operating room on an outpatient basis. I went thru 9.5 weeks of therapy with Calypso last year, March-May 2009, with minimal side-effects. My first choice would have been the Proton beam, had it been available where I live (Philly, Pa) but given that it wasn't, and, I had to travel to some other part of the country, I choose Calypso. We now have the latest and greatest Proton Center open at the University of Pennyslvania, The Proton Center, but due to my case, I couldn't wait a year. Best, J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.