Cryotherapy

[Guest guest]

J,

Check out the Prostate Cancer Research Institute. There is a great deal of info you can print out there. I relied on it before I chose surgery in January.

Subject: CryotherapyTo: ProstateCancerSupport Date: Monday, November 15, 2010, 4:21 PM

Hey Guys,I had my surgery in 2003, one of the guinea pigs, almost, forthe Di Vinci method in the US. Still having plenty of troublewith incontinence, but likely due to a following back surgery in the same area.I'm posting for information about cryotherapy for my "first boss", a prince of a fellow, now 72, and has been diagnosed with PCa. They're recommending cryotherapy, he just said "freezing it out", as they didn't want to operate due to his age. I don't know what else may be going on, as we haven't seen much of each other for several years.He's definitely slowed down from when I last saw him. He's African American, so between age and race, it's a wonder it's held off this long.If anyone could give me some links to print some stuff out for him, I know he'd appreciate it. I plan to be near where he lives in about 3 weeks. I'm not out to him, although I doubt that he's care. Still, if

there's no need to do so, I'd rather not, but I can edit.Thanks very much, guys,Steve in FL------------------------------------There are just two rules for this group 1 No Spam 2 Be kind to othersPlease recognise that Prostate Cancerhas different guises and needs different levels of treatment and in some cases no treatment at all. Some men even with all options offered chose radical options that you would not choose. We only ask that people be informed before choice is made, we cannot and should not tell other members what to do, other than look at other options. Try to delete old material that is no longer applying when clicking replyTry to change the title if the content requires it

[Guest guest]

Steve,

I have basic information and links here on

my site http://www.yananow.org/choices.htm#cryo

– you might like to print off some the stories men have told about their

treatment – indexed at http://www.yananow.org/Experiences.html#cryo

All the best

Prostate men need enlightening, not

frightening

Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and

still going strong

Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at http://www.yananow.net/StrangePlace/index.html

From: ProstateCancerSupport [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of J.

Sent: Tuesday, 16 November 2010

8:21 AM

To: ProstateCancerSupport

Subject:

Cryotherapy

Hey Guys,

I had my surgery in 2003, one of the guinea pigs, almost, for

the Di Vinci method in the US.

Still having plenty of trouble

with incontinence, but likely due to a following back surgery in the

same area.

I'm posting for information about cryotherapy for my " first boss " , a

prince of a fellow, now 72, and has been diagnosed with PCa. They're

recommending cryotherapy, he just said " freezing it out " , as they

didn't want to operate due to his age. I don't know what else may be going on,

as we haven't seen much of each other for several years.

He's definitely slowed down from when I last saw him. He's African American, so

between age and race, it's a wonder it's held off this long.

If anyone could give me some links to print some stuff out for him, I know he'd

appreciate it. I plan to be near where he lives in about 3 weeks. I'm not out

to him, although I doubt that he's care. Still, if there's no need to do so,

I'd rather not, but I can edit.

Thanks very much, guys,

Steve in FL

[Guest guest]

J. wrote:

....

> I'm posting for information about cryotherapy for my " first

> boss " , a prince of a fellow, now 72, and has been diagnosed

> with PCa. They're recommending cryotherapy, he just said

> " freezing it out " , as they didn't want to operate due to his

> age. I don't know what else may be going on, as we haven't seen

> much of each other for several years. He's definitely slowed

> down from when I last saw him. He's African American, so

> between age and race, it's a wonder it's held off this long.

....

J.

The National Cancer Institute health professional " State of the

Art " treatment summary for PCa can be found here:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/prostate/healthprofessional/all\

pages

Here are a couple of excerpts from it on cryotherapy:

" Cryotherapy is also under evaluation for the treatment of

localized prostate cancer. There is limited evidence on its

efficacy and safety compared to the more commonly used local

therapies, and the technique is evolving in an attempt to

reduce local toxicity and normal tissue damage (see below).

The quality of evidence on efficacy is low, currently limited

to case series of relatively small size, short follow-up, and

surrogate outcomes of efficacy. "

" Impotence is common in the reported case series, ranging

from about 47% to 100%. Other major complications include

incontinence, urethral sloughing, urinary fistula or

stricture, and bladder neck obstruction "

Here's the citation quoted in support of the first quote above:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17636783

However here's another citation (now 9 years old) claiming

success rates similar to radiation:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11248631

Unfortunately, prostate cancer treatment is big business. Even

the good doctors often engage in hype and hyperbole to sell their

services. This is true not only for cryotherapy but also for a

half dozen different forms of radiation (brachytherapy, IMRT,

Cyberknife, IGRT, etc.) and some surgical techniques.

There is an NCI designated " Comprehensive Cancer Center " (the

National Cancer Institute's highest recommendation) in Tampa at

the University of South Florida. See: http://www.moffitt.org/

If it's not too hard for your friend to get there, it's probably

a good place for at least an expert second opinion.

They may be able to give him some expert advice about whether he

needs treatment at all - most men who are diagnosed don't need

it, or don't need it for years - and if so, what would be a good

treatment for him.

If he does need treatment, it is crucial to get the very best

practitioners available to deliver it. Cancer is the kind of

disease for which the first treatments given have the best chance

of a cure, and for which the treatments can generally not be

repeated (I'm not sure about cryotherapy in that regard.) It's

also the case that side effects of treatment can be very bad. So

it's very important to get the best treatment the first time.

Best of luck to your friend.

Oh and incidentally, there's some debate about whether African

American men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer, or have

more serious cases. Some epidemiologists argue that the real

problem is that, on average, they don't experience the same

standard of care as the average among white Americans.

Alan

[Guest guest]

Cryotherapy (whole prostate) seems to have some pretty adverse side effect when

it comes to impotence and incontinence.

I would suggest you friend see if he is a candidate for SBRT (CyberKnife or

Novalis).

With Cyberknife, just four or five sessions and a popular choice for guys your

friends age. Everyone in my support group that has had it is very satisfied.

As SBRT matures it is increasingly looking like a very good option.

>

> Hey Guys,

> ...I'm posting for information about cryotherapy for my " first boss " , a prince

of a fellow, now 72, and has been diagnosed with PCa. They're recommending

cryotherapy, he just said " freezing it out " , as they didn't want to operate due

to his age. I don't know what else may be going on, as we haven't seen much of

each other for several years...

> Thanks very much, guys,

> Steve in FL

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Folks,

I want to thank all those who responded to my

post of Nov. 15, asking about basic information on

cryotherapy for my first boss and good friend, who

was recently diagnosed at the age of 72. A guy who worked with

me and I will go see him when I get up there (central Atlantic

States). We owe it to him-after putting up with us at age 16-18

years old-fortunately we were fairly well behaved.

Those posts have been carefully saved, and we'll do for him what

we can to help assure he's getting the best care possible. I know

from experience when my Mom was in an assisted living facility in that

area that medical care is not the best, in spite of being near D.C.

All the best,

Steve in FL

[Guest guest]

J. wrote:

> Hey Folks,

>

> I want to thank all those who responded to my

> post of Nov. 15, asking about basic information on

> cryotherapy for my first boss and good friend, who

> was recently diagnosed at the age of 72. A guy who worked with

> me and I will go see him when I get up there (central Atlantic

> States). We owe it to him-after putting up with us at age 16-18

> years old-fortunately we were fairly well behaved.

> Those posts have been carefully saved, and we'll do for him what

> we can to help assure he's getting the best care possible. I know

> from experience when my Mom was in an assisted living facility in that

> area that medical care is not the best, in spite of being near D.C.

>

> All the best,

>

> Steve in FL

Steve,

I see I misunderstood your original posting, thinking that your

friend was living in Florida. There is an NCI designated cancer

center at town University:

http://cancercenters.cancer.gov/cancer_centers/lccc.html

And if your friend might be interested in entering a clinical

trial, the National Cancer Institute runs clinical trials at

their clinical center in Bethesda. I was treated in a Radiation

Oncology Department trial there in 2003/2004 and still appear to

be cancer free today.

http://bethesdatrials.cancer.gov/prostate/index.aspx

My impression was that the doctors and scientists were very good,

and treatment in the trials at NCI is totally free.

There are also two excellent centers in Baltimore, one at the

University of land at Baltimore, and the other at the world

famous s Hopkins University Hospital.

Alan

[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 3 years ago. The urologits did a biopsy

because, after 5 years of PSA around 1 it has risen to 6.5 in one year. I opted

for cryotherapy because the cancer was localized and less than 5% found in 2 of

12 samples. After 3 years my PSA is at 0.2. The only side effects after

surgery were an e-coli infection which resulted in painful shooting pains in the

testicles and was eventually eradicated by antibiotics, There was sexual

dysfunction but with the help of Cialis it is almost normal.

Best wishes for your dear friend.

>

> Hey Folks,

>

> I want to thank all those who responded to my

> post of Nov. 15, asking about basic information on

> cryotherapy for my first boss and good friend, who

> was recently diagnosed at the age of 72. A guy who worked with

> me and I will go see him when I get up there (central Atlantic

> States). We owe it to him-after putting up with us at age 16-18

> years old-fortunately we were fairly well behaved.

> Those posts have been carefully saved, and we'll do for him what

> we can to help assure he's getting the best care possible. I know

> from experience when my Mom was in an assisted living facility in that

> area that medical care is not the best, in spite of being near D.C.

>

> All the best,

>

> Steve in FL

>