I had 5 x 3GY (daily) 10 years ago, because the treatment went well and flying to Germany was difficult holiday-wise I didn't go back for a second round of treatment.......so my feeling is that a 1.5 to 2 month gap might give you chance to assess how well the first round of treatment has gone and then make a decision, following my treatment my symptoms gradually improved over the subsequent 3 months, although most impact occurred in the week of the treatment

It was difficult for me as well when looking into getting radiation. I had a consult with Dr. T at Scripps but during our discussion, the type of treatment he was advocating changed - days and Gys. I felt unsure since he wasn't doing studies on how effective his treatment protocol was.

I ended up going with a doctor nearer to my home who had never treated Dupuytren's BUT he researched Prof. Seegenschmiedt's studies and we went with the 3Gys/day for 5 days, 3 mo. break, and another round of same.

I've been reading for the past year about people getting lower doses in case they needed another round and wish that I knew if the lower dose of radiation would have worked for me. Until definitive studies are published though, I am unclear on how doctors are choosing their protocols. I'm not a radiation oncologist so I'm sure that they have their reasons but it just seems strange that the treatments are so varied.

Diana

allisun:

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I had radiation therapy done in May at Virginia Commonwealth University. They gave me seven days of treatment spread across 10 days, 3g each day. It is now 7 months later, and I have noticed new growth. I am not going to return to Virginia for treatment because I live in NYC, but I am seeking another round, going to do a consult with a doctor in new york that I discovered from a post on Metafilter. Nicholas J. Sanfilippo of the NYU radiation oncology department has worked with one patient so far and I have a consultation coming up to possibly be his second. I'm not sure yet what treatment plan I will do for the second round, Dr. Weiss in Virginia recommended doing the same thing again but I am now curious about the six week wait time recommended by the Germans.

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Do you mind saying - is the new growth in an area that was previously subject to the radiotherapy 'beam'. Thank you.

(There are a lot of examples on this forum on the success of RT so it would also be useful to understand those cases if or where it doesn't appear to help).

Edited 11/30/10 14:54

So did you go in for 4 days one week and 3 days the next? I find it strange that they did your treatment like that. Why not 10 days of treatments. I had 10 days of treatment - 5 days 1 week and 5 days the next week and mine was 2GY. Also my doctor had never did this on anyone with DD and i trust him. He is a very good doctor and he radiated my whole hands up to middle joint and my thumbs were included. And if you are not willing to let a doctor try on you for his first time how in the world are we going to get more doctors to be willing to help us with radiation. I was more than willing to do this because i wanted this disease to stop from progressing in my hands and so far it has did this. My hands are not perfect and my right hand is the worse one. I have a lot of tightness in my hands and pain if i use them to much but my nodules are so small you can't even see them. I still have some cords but i knew going into this it wouldn't do much for cords. I think the biggest problem people have is not doing the whole hand the first time. It has been 9 months since i had my treatments and i'm very happy that i found a doctor that would do this for me. I feel like i did the right thing for me. Everyone has to decide for themselves at the end of the day. Take care