Radiation safety and precautions
After brachytherapy you will have radioactive seeds in your
prostate, but the dose of radiation outside your body is very low.
The seeds are sealed so that none of the radioactive material can
leak out.
After prostate brachytherapy, you should avoid prolonged cuddles
with pregnant women or very young infants, for about 2 months. You
should not be worried about visiting, or being visited by your
family or friends.
You should avoid letting young family pets sit in your lap for
long periods. This is not a problem if the animal is mature.
Your specialist will give you advice on sex. They may recommend
that you avoid sexual intercourse with a woman of childbearing age
for at least 2 weeks after the implant, in the unlikely event that
a seed comes out in your ejaculate. You should avoid receiving oral
sex from your partner for the same reason.
You should use condoms during sexual intercourse for as long as
your specialist recommends.
In the rare event that you pass a loose seed in your urine there
are some basic precautions to follow. If this happens, and you
happen to see it in the toilet bowl, pick it up with a pair of
tweezers and place it in a sealed container. A jam jar would do the
job. Contact your brachytherapy team for advice on its safe
disposal.
Foods and fluids
- Eat high fibre foods and fruit every day to keep your bowel
motions loose. You may find it helps to eat a piece of fruit with
each meal.
- Drink 11/2 - 2 litres of fluids each day.
- Limit your fluid intake after 7pm (especially coffee, tea and
alcohol). This will help to decrease the amount of urine produced
during the night. It may be necessary to do this for the first few
months after the implant to decrease the number of times you have
to get up in the night.
Call your G.P if
- Your urine is very bloody, has clots in it or you are having
difficulty in passing urine.
- You cannot pass urine.
- You develop fever of more than 38ºC \ 101ºF, or chills with a
raised temperature.