Re: re age

[Guest guest]

Sewell wrote:

> Thanks for the info. I am Caucasian (White). my urologist

> diagnosed and biopsied me said it was aggressive but hadn't

> left the Prostate. I went to 5 Dr's my own and 2 surgeons and 2

> radiologists. the radiologists all agreed that there would be a

> 40 to 50 pct chance of cancer coming back the Surgeons both

> said only a 10 to 15 pct chance of recurrence. so I opted for

> surgery,

It would be nice if the docs were able to point you to a nomogram

(a statistical prediction tool based on actual outcomes for men

with different PSA, Gleason and stage at time of diagnosis) that

supported those predictions. The ones I've seen don't indicate

such a disparity between the two treatments.

I hate it when doctors say, " 98% of my patients are cured " , and

then come back later say, " Oh, bad luck! You're in the two

percent. " They may say that to 25% of their patients, but what

patient can tell that? And for that matter, how many doctors

actually keep statistics on their success rates or even actively

follow up on patients? I understand if they don't, but they

should be up front about it.

Alan

[Guest guest]

I totally agree with you .IT is really frustrating to hear the stats...but they don't seem to help one decide on what type of surgery to get,as they do not say in each case...how long that person lived after the PC was treated, or removed.To: ProstateCancerSupport Sent:

Sun, March 14, 2010 3:17:47 PMSubject: Re: re age

Sewell <ranger_198837@ yahoo.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the info. I am Caucasian (White). my urologist

> diagnosed and biopsied me said it was aggressive but hadn't

> left the Prostate. I went to 5 Dr's my own and 2 surgeons and 2

> radiologists. the radiologists all agreed that there would be a

> 40 to 50 pct chance of cancer coming back the Surgeons both

> said only a 10 to 15 pct chance of recurrence. so I opted for

> surgery,

It would be nice if the docs were able to point you to a nomogram

(a statistical prediction tool based on actual outcomes for men

with different PSA, Gleason and stage at time of diagnosis) that

supported those predictions. The ones I've seen don't indicate

such a disparity between the two treatments.

I hate it when doctors say, "98% of my patients are cured", and

then come back later say, "Oh, bad luck! You're in the two

percent." They may say that to 25% of their patients, but what

patient can tell that? And for that matter, how many doctors

actually keep statistics on their success rates or even actively

follow up on patients? I understand if they don't, but they

should be up front about it.

Alan

[Guest guest]

, I used the Katten Nomogram on the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute

website to help me make a decision to have surgery. The nomogram does provide

probabilities on recurrence at five and 10 years for each kind of treatment when

you enter your age: mine was 67, PSA, mine was 4.95, Gleason score (7) and its

components (3+4), and stage (mine was t-1c). It said my five-year non-recurrence

with surgery was 93% and 10 year was 89%. With IMRT it was 96% five uears and

93% 8-years, (no 10-year data), with brachytherapy the probabilities were lower.

The five year non-recurrence probability for it was only 83%.

I chose surgery because of the lack of 10-year data on IMRT, and I wanted to

know if my lymph nodes were clear. They were, so that's a comfort. The model

also gives you recurrence probabilities after treatment when you get

post-treatment PSAs. I get my first ones on March 19.

Mike

>

> Thanks for the info. I am Caucasian (White). my urologist diagnosed and

biopsied me said it was aggressive but hadn't  left the Prostate. I went to 5

Dr's my own and 2 surgeons and 2 radiologists. the radiologists all agreed that

there would be a 40 to 50 pct chance of cancer coming back the Surgeons both

said only a 10 to 15 pct chance of recurrence. so I opted for surgery,  

>