Phillip and Dave,

i didn't pick up your age. if you are young, i know that the discussion with you would include your age and other factors. 1% seems minimal to me, but then, I'm 72 and actually believe the risk is almost nil. There are all the disclaimers about every medication taken, but we either decide the benefits outweigh the risks/side effects or not. For me, the benefit of stopping the progression of my DD was worth the risk.

What bothered me more was the % of chance that RT might not work to stop the progression. That would really be a bummer. RT is not 100%, but there is a greater chance than not that it will be effective if Dups is active when RT is administered. It was critical to Dr. T to hear my symptoms that indicated active Dups. My symptoms did indicate active Dups, or Dr. T would not have done it.

I believe that 1 % risk of cancer due to radiation therapy is a very pessimistic estimate. Of course, the risk is age depending but current estimates are rather in the .02 - 0.2 percent range http://www.dupuytren-online.de/downloads...20Dupuytren.htm, depending on age.

Wolfgang

I was 53-54 when I started my first RT. I will be turning 55 next month. As I told Flora, I did not blink at the low risk rate for RT. The painful consequences of allowing my finger to contract overshadowed the miminal risk of cancer. Since my Dups was active the RT worked and hopefully will continue to work. I will have it again if my DD reactivates. I figure I am exposed to more cancer causing enviromental issues (food, wine, water, etc.. and the ones I know nothing about) than the little bit of radiation I had on my palm. I had to put into prospective the desired outcome vs the miminal risk of cancer. Looking at it that way, for me there was no debate. Not to say, I wasn't nervous, because I was. I am more leary about the Xiaflex injections and the unknown long term effects than any jitters the RT caused. I admire those of you who have had the Xiaflex injections, you are pioneers just as Wolfgang and others were pioneers for RT and NA many years ago. Without those of you stepping up to the plate, (be it Xiaflex or NA) we would all be stuck with hurting hands, fingers and lives just waiting till our hands were devastated enough to have surgery.


Thanks to all of you,

Lori

Flora, sorry about that! Doesn't the link work on your computer? It does work on mine.

Wolfgang

flojo:

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Wolfgang, I had not found the article that you linked. I like those numbers even better!

If I ever got it, I don't know that I could attribute cancer on my hand to RT anyway because I have had early detected skin cancer elsewhere anyway - basal cell and squamous cell. Goes with the Northern European heritage like Dupuytren's. I watch for skin cancer like a hawk, too.

I'll temper the way I refer to the risks of RT. Even though about or less than 1% risk is of little or no concern to me, I want to be more accurate.

Wolfgang,
Yes, the link does work. I just had not run across it before.