Hello All;

I was on here before but could not relocate my user name, so I re-registered. First, thanks to this site for helping me identify a promising therapy - radiation treatments.

Background: I have a strong northern european genetic background. My father has dealt with Dupuytrens now for over 20 years. We suspect that other family members have had it; however, our ancestors had a tendency to hide medical issues out a misplaced sense of shame, self-blame, and magical thinking. I am descended from many generations of what are derisively called hillbillies.

My father's Dupuytrens first manifested in one hand in his late 50s but he ignored it as is typical until it began to interfere with hand motion and use. At the time he began to bother him he was working for a medical clinic, and one of his peers recognized it at Dupuytrens. He had surgery, which was successful, and that hand remains useful two decades later.

He then began to see it developing in his other hand a few years later, and has had surgery twice with poor success, and has been told that further surgery is not a viable option.

Only because of my father's experience did I recognize what it was at an early stage. For me it first became noticeable at age 58. I am now 59. I also knew that surgery can be iffy, and researched other options, where on this site I found that early radiation treatments were an option. As a life long radiation worker and health physics instructor and manager, I understand the radiation risks for this treatment and have no concern for the levels of radiation and location of the dose associated with this therapy.

I have one noticeable nodule and a few very tiny nodules on my left palm and none that I could identify on my right palm.

After contacting Dr. Weiss' staff at VCU (Richmond, VA) I was scheduled for a consult earlier this month. The Doctors and staff were very pleasant and professional, and Dr. Weiss is very personable and conversational, while professional. In her exam she confirmed my home diagnosis and identified more nodules in my left hand, as well as locating some nodules in my right hand as well. She stated that I was a good candidate for radiation therapy, and I agreed to the treatments. She also examined my feet for Ledderhose, with no indications found.

The routine from here goes something like this: Next Monday I will have a long day while they CT/MRI the hands and develop the treatment plan, which will likely include forming a radiation field shaping bolus, and should include my first dose(s), followed by additional doses the next 4 days, completing Friday. Then, in about 6-8 (or 12) weeks, I return for another series of 5 daily doses.

I am hopeful, as studies show a high success rate for radiation treatments done at this stage, and I am all too aware of the negatives of late or ineffective surgical procedures.

I will update the forums on my actual experience as I proceed forward. I apologize for the lengthy post.

YMMV.

Kevin

Edited 08/01/14 18:49

Good Luck with your treatments. I am looking forward to getting this done, so that I may hopefully avoid my Father's sufferings.

I will be driving up from the Tidewater area of Virginia each day, hopefully early in the morning Tuesday through Thursday, such that I can get some work done next week in my office.

Kevin

callie:

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The procedure takes about five minutes each day.

Just a thought and offer.

Subject to my own limitations, I would have no problem inquiring about and answering any questions others might have about VCU and Dupuytren's Radiation treatments, as I will have plenty of time on my hands (blatant pun) next week.

Just let me know what comes to your minds, as I cannot possibly anticipate every possible question that others might have out there.

Kevin

Kevin, you made an interesting comment about the cancer patients. Most are in there for considerably more serious situations than Dupuytren's. I had the exact same thoughts when I had RT 18 months ago. Then the amazing thing happened, I will be going in this Sunday for a stem cell transplant and I will be joining all of those in the cancer ward. I soon realized that there are more serious things than Dupuytren's.