TESTIMONIALS
Hear From Barrigel™ Spacer Physicians*
on why they choose Barrigel spacer for their prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Barrigel spacer is proven to significantly reduce rectal side effects of radiation.1
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
IN THEIR OWN
WORDS
Using Barrigel Rectal Spacer, I really find that I can get what I want. I can really customize it the way I want to. I don't have to worry about time of delivery. I know that I can get it as symmetrical as I want to, as long or as short. I can bias it to one side. I know that the patients are not going to be uncomfortable. The next day they'll be out on the golf course playing golf or riding their motorcycle. I don't have to worry about when I'm going to simulate the patient. And if we're going to add things like brachytherapy, there's not going to be any distortion from the spacer. And it's so usable. Knowing that it's ninety eight point five percent water, and if you feel it, it's very gentle. So I think it really adds to the care of patients. And with other products, patients would feel it. You really couldn't define how you use it, the length, if it was going to be symmetrical. So with Barrigel Rectal Spacer, I really can just take all those worries away.
Dr. Welchons is a paid consultant of Teleflex.
Barrigel spacer is also unique because you can achieve symmetry with all the implants that you perform. Normally, the radiation oncologist does send messages to us that are spacing about the symmetry and sometimes they'll let us know what the implant looks like. And with Barrigel spacer, they've been extremely satisfied with our ability to customize the implant so that we have coverage on both the left and the right side and all the way from base to apex. And we've heard that over and over again from our radiation oncologists that they see a consistent symmetric space being generated. That's all because with the product you can customize things and you have the time and the ability to make the space custom to each patient.
We were one of the first groups to really embrace spacing. And the previous product we used had some complications that we found to be unacceptable. We still felt that the idea was important, and we knew the process of trying to push that rectum out of the way was one that's going to be important for our patients to reduce side effects. And so for a while, we stopped all spacing and just continued doing radiation the standard way without any sort of additive space or product to help move the rectum out of the way. And then, know, Baragel Spacer came out and came to us about their product, and we felt a lot more comfortable with the safety profile. And so we started using it, and that was three or four years ago, and we haven't looked back since. And that's the product we use now, and we've had zero safety issues. Only good things have come from starting to use Baragel spacer.
The safety profile of Barrogel rectal spacer is incredible. In my own practice of doing several hundred cases now, I think when we talk to the patients, have no discomfort. They really have not seen GI toxicity with BaroGel rectal spacer. We know the data from pivotal trial decreased grade two plus toxicity. Certainly in the real world, my experience has been exactly that. When we think about going back to the safety of it and the fact that we're really trying to get this risk benefit ratio as wide as possible, to me it's a no brainer. That barogel rectal spacer is improving quality of life. It's extremely safe to use. Complete patient benefit.
I use Barrigel Rectal Spacer because it helps reduce radiation side effects for my patients undergoing cancer treatment. It's benefited my practice and my patients by making a very important treatment even safer and more tolerable. After the procedure, patients hardly notice it's there at all. I tell them, In about two hours, you won't remember you had this procedure.
References
1. Mariados NF, Orio PF, Schiffman Z et al. Hyaluronic acid spacer for hypofractionated prostate radiation therapy: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncol. 2023: e1-e8**§
* This information reflects the personal experiences and professional medical opinions of the featured healthcare providers. Results may vary. All featured physicians are paid consultants of Teleflex.
** Study sponsored by Palette Life Sciences, now part of Teleflex
§ One or more of the authors are paid consultants of Teleflex.
