After effects from Contura radiation procedure?

I just finished the contura 5 day twice a day treatment last week. The catheter is a little uncomfortable but I didn't need any pain meds or even Tylenol. There is a sterile dsg twice a day over it so you can't take a shower. I went and had my hair done and also had a pedicure during it because out here in AZ where it is 110 degrees a bird bath just didn't do it. I tolerated the treatments just fine. A word of advice on the last treatment - do take a painkiller because it pulls and burns when they remove the tube. There was a little drainage for about 3 days. I still am not in my regular bras yet. Now this week which is one week after I tire easily and the boob is inflamed like a mild sunburn...a touch tender but still not needing any pain meds or even tylenol.It kind of throbs when I bend over. I hope I don't have long term problems like I have read about here. I am planning to go back to work next week. Apparently the contura which has 5 tubes allows for more even rad doses to the cavity than the mammosite did. Let us know how you do!

Thank you so much for this information. I am supposed to go in end of this week and get the catheder put in for the Contura balloon and then start treatement next week. I was wondering about the side effects, in fact, I just put a topic out there and hten looked around more and found this one. I'm going to read that info on the link you posted too. Thanks much!

I am a Contura failure.  I had the Contura in place a couple days before I went for the first rads evaluation.  It was very uncomfortable for me, to the point I took some hydrocodone for relief.  The Contura balloon is polyurethane, and it is firmer than a Mammosite balloon.  It felt like a ping pong ball was in there.  When I went for the CTs and evaluation before starting rads, we found out that my skin had stretched and now I did not have the minimun clearance (in mm) needed to proceed.  My tumor cavity was very near to the surface, and that was the main factor, I think.

When I had the balloon placed, the BS cut a blood vessel that bled a lot.  That is unusual, but I needed three stitches to close it up.  A couple days later, I had a little pressure and pain at the removal.  The stitches were removed then.  I now have a scar (additional to the surgery and SNB sites) from the Contura.  It looks like a bullet hole indentation.  Sorry, I can't comment about any other after effects.

The Contura requires multiple CTs to check position, so I got a few of those which I ended up not needing.  The CT has many times the radiation a plain film x-ray does.  When I opted for Contura, I did not realize I would be having that much CT exposure.  I also thought it would be only 5 days of wearing it, but in reality you may have it in place for some days before treatments actually begin.  If it is not comfortable, every day seems like an eternity.

You may think I am against balloon brachytherapy, but I'm not.  I'm just saying six of one, half dozen of the other.  I ended up having whole breast radiation.  I didn't like that very much either.  I live close to the Breast Center, so going all those weeks was easy-peasy in my case.  But radiation is radiation.  It's not gona ba a walk in the park.  I did very well with whole breast radiation.  I got a rectangle tan, a little pink and sore, and was tired; none of the blistering at all.  Plus, I am 11 mos out of rads. and just saw an x-ray of my lungs.  Even tho' 13% of my lung was in the radiation field, the lung showed no apparent scarring as both lungs looked the same on x-ray.  That's real good. I guess I got lucky.

I'm posting both of my experiences here, not so much for those who have finished Contura already, but for people still in the decision making process. The more they learn about both, the better to choose which one is right for them.  Don't forget to ask how many balloon procedures your surgeon has done so far.  It is still relatively new, so they may not even be that experienced with them.  That can make a difference.  Good Luck everyone with rads still ahead of them.

Update:

I got the contura balloon in yesteday (Thursday), I was a little nervous as I expected it to hurt going in a lot because of the size of the thing, but actually, it hurt very little! I felt a little prick as the numbing needle went in and then nothing...the surgeon was actually saying he was in the cavity numbing that part and yet I didn't feel a thing. When he inserted the balloon and cathedar I was told to expect pressure, but actually, I didn't even feel that, and as he inflated the balloon, a little pressure. That's it.

 I then had the planning session at the radiation oncologist, which consisted of a CT scan, markings, and the thing I felt was pretty wierd: Pictures! Yes, pictures: they used a digital camera and took pictures of my breasts to put in my chart/file...it just struck me as odd. Anyhow, so far so good, I was still numb so no pain!

 However, as night approached the numbness wore off and the the pain set in.  Luckily, I had the foresight to go to the nearby WalMart days earlier and buy a few of those hook in the front sports bras three sizes bigger then normal and those went over the mesh tube top thing they put on so it all held in place without moving around because any movement was extremely painful. TIP: Be sure you buy the hook in the front ones because you won't be able to strech to put pull over the head ones on, and be sure you buy them several sizes larger! I did end up taking one of my pain pills left over from my surgery to take the edge offf, but I still had to sleep on the couch as it was to painful to lie down fully in the bed.

Today, back to get the dressing changed; not much drainage or blood. All went well. Pain was tolerable with tylenol most of the day, except for after the return from the dressing change; I think because of the movement of the cathedar and the dressing chane and all the jostling it was hurting quite a bit at this time. Night is almost here again, get through the weekend, and treatments start on Monday. I'm told they will do a CT scan every visit, that's twice a day, as they have to verify that the balloon is still in the same place and that everything measures up correctly. Then next Friday, this thing comes out! I'll update as I go along treatment next week.

Update: so here's my story on the week for anyone else that is contemplating going through this..

I last updated above on Friday the 17th, the day after getting the balloon put in. The weekend that followed was pretty uneventful. The sessions were pretty uneventful, the treatments themselves don't really hurt, it's the moving around of the tube that seems to hurt. The morning sessions were always pretty easy, and I slept for at least an hour in between that one and the afternoon one as I was always tired. The afternooon  sessions were a little rougher as the tube hurt more from being moved around so much so close together to the morning session, and so the pain was worse in the evenings. I pretty much took tylenol every 4 hours during the days and then one dose of tylenol PM before going to sleep.  I also was taking an antibiotic (due to chemo going to start soon after this) and I was told that it probabably helped to keep inflamation and pain down, but surprisingly, not eveyone gets an anitibiotic it seems.

On Friday I found myself stressed about getting the thing out as I already knew they did not use any sort of numbing agent, so I did take a prescription pain pill about an hour before my appointment. With that, when they took it out it really wasn't bad - a pinch and a little pulling..it wasn't even half as bad as the shot getting the nuclear injection put in for my lumpectomy - now that one really hurt and this wasn't even that bad (I thought this would be worse!!)

So, I'm done with this first step, in one week; it wasn't an extremly comfortable week but all in all, still better then 5 or 6 weeks I think. Today, I'm just really tired, been sleeping a lot, and the incision is a little sore. Next step, getting a port put in and on to chemo.

angel80, I too had the contura radiation. Mine was close to the skin and had a slight burn. The tireness is from the radiation. Remember you recieved it 2 times a day for 5 days, that's very exausting to the body. You are so right the emontional part takes much longer. Give yourself a break you've gone through so much in just a few weeks. Get the rest you need.

One word of caution, are you going to be doing chemo after the radiaiton? If so PM me, and I can give you some info.

Karen

It has been a over a week since I had the balloon has been out the site has healed nicely,  I did get some burn because of the cavity being kind of close to the skin.  It is healing, I have anxeity worrying about how much insurance will pay...  But, physically well.  Also problems sleeping due to tomoxefen...hot flashes need to get back to life.

HI worldwatcher,

We had our procedures about the same time and Im wondering how you are doing. I just had my 6mo checkup and still have a seroma in the lumpectomy cavity becuase they dont close it with the contura catheter being inserted for the brachytherapy.  It seems to be slowly getting smaller but still is quite hardened. I still get tired easily too but am on arimidex. Have you or anyone else had seroma problems and what can be done except wait it out?  KD

I wanted to compare Contura to Mammosite when I came across this forum.

The following information regarding bras with no underwires was given to me which may help:

"I just bought Soma's latest wirefree bras that replaced the Sofia.  They are even better.   You can look at them on soma.com.  Mine are Larissa wirefree and Body Bliss Sara wirefree.  Can wear them all day.  Chico's/Soma are great contributors for breast cancer nationally."

I have had a similar experience. I had the Contura inserted this afternoon. The Contura rep was there to direct as my Dr. had ony inserted SAVI before. I too bled on insertion. The balloon was inflated and it was visible outside my skin. The cancer was only 4mmx10mm but she had removed a "golf ball sized" mass as she said there was scar tissue or something that made it look bigger on mammo and MRI. She had a hard time putting in the amount of Saline that the Contura Rep suggested....Anyway... I went directly to radiation oncology where they took several CT scans and measured for the catherter distance. Off I went home feeling a little pressure but glad to be moving on. Tonight I got a call from the radiation oncologist saying they can't proceed because it's too close to my skin. I'm so bummed. I REALLY don't want beam and am considering forgetting the radiation altogether. I will take the Femara but I've read so much about how the partial alleviates danger to other body parts and with my luck so far... I'm not keen on whole breast!!! Sorry to whine but I really feel a need to vent with someone who would understand!  Thanks Barbara

I completed Contura radiation on 9/15/2010. I did very well until April 2011 (7 months out) I developed a seroma. In July 2011 it became very painful. It is less painful now. There is clearly a lump that hurts upon touching it and increases in discomfort when I use that arm. My balloon rested on the chest wall. My shoulder and neck have hurt since the beginning of August 2011. I exercise in a therapy pool and protect my arm. 

The radiation oncologist seems to think this is normal. She did offer to drain the seroma, but reminded me that it would refill and draining it would offer an avenue for infection into a radiated area. It left me with very little hope. 

After lots of hours searching I have found that some seromas eventually harden and can be surgically removed later on...

I feel like there is very little research conducted on how women are really feeling months and years following this radiation technique. There is one paper that indicates perhaps the fractionation is too strong a dose. I know I'm happy to be alive and "cancer-free" but I readily admit the cure was worse than predicted. 

I'd like to hear from some of you several years after APBI with contura.