Pelvic Late Effects Service

Pelvic Late Effects Service

(Pelvic Treatments include: Bladder, Prostate, Rectum, Anal Canal, Cervix, Uterus, Ovary, Vagina, Vulva)

The Lincoln Pelvic Late Effects Service is dedicated to helping people who are 6 months or more post treatment, to manage and live well with the late effects from radiotherapy.

Most people who receive radiotherapy will experience some side effects from their treatment. These are called early or acute side effects and can continue for some weeks or months after treatment, but should settle in time.

However, for some there may be ongoing physical and/or emotional challenges that they may experience daily. These could be bladder or bowel issues, fatigue, low mood or pain for example. These are the late side effects from radiotherapy and they can develop many months or sometimes years after treatment has finished. 
These are likely to be permanent changes.

There is no way to predict who may be affected and if they do occur, it does not mean that your treatment team did anything wrong. The late effects are due to changes to the normal tissues, which could not be avoided.

Radiotherapy is excellent at getting rid of cancer cells. However, over time the tissues in the treatment area, which have also been exposed to the radiotherapy, can become damaged. This is due to something called Radiation Induced Fibrosis.
Radiation Induced Fibrosis is a build-up of fibrotic tissue, like scar tissue, that makes tissues hard and less stretchy. Depending where in the body this happens means late effects can be different from person to person, but only the area treated will be affected.

There can be other ongoing changes to how you may think and feel after treatment too. Physical and mental wellbeing are very important to feeling your best.

Please remember that many people will leave cancer behind and continue on with their life. But if you are experiencing any physical and / or emotional challenges and feel you may have late effects from treatment.  There is support available to you.

The Lincoln Pelvic Late Effects Service is a self-referral service.