Re: Fw: Re: Curing PCa early?--Is it ever cured?

[Guest guest]

I hate to burst your bubble but I personally know of 3 men who had prostate cancer, received therapy and now have been concidered cured by not having any signs of the cancer for more than 5 years. One I know has actually been symptom free for over 10 years. Why don't you see it? Simple, the pool of people you are polling. The three men that I know that are classiffied as cured have moved on. Prostate Cancer is not their primary focus any more and they have moved on to other things. They are not hanging around cancer support groups. I am sure there are others out there too but they don't talk about their past health history much so you don't know that they had PCa. In fact one of my "cured" friends I had known for 2 years before I even knew he had had cancer. It wasn't until I was talking about an implant that he confessed he had been through the same thing 8 years ago.

On July 21, 2011 at 2:17 AM <wiech89@...> wrote:

> I think that rather than agonize over the word cure , it would be more useful to look at the perponderence of the evidence of all of those whom we know and have known of , who have this disease. Look around and ask yourself how many patients do you personally know of who have been cured , or, any that you know of at any support group or online list who claim to be cured (and whom you believe is a legitimate poster and not trying to sell you something) . I once asked 20 men on an online support group , men whom themselves were not cured, if they personally knew of anyone else with PCa and if any of them were cured. They all knew several people and no one knew of anyone who had been cured. I have met a few men who claim that they have been cured but none of them had passed the 5 year mark and as we all know, it takes time for metastasis to grow large enough to be detected. Often times years.

[Guest guest]

Larry Helber wrote:

> ... I personally know of 3 men who had prostate cancer,

> received therapy and now have been considered cured by not

> having any signs of the cancer for more than 5 years. ...

You probably know, or at least know of, a lot more than three.

I was treated for prostate cancer in 2003/2004 and appear (knock

on wood) to have no current evidence of disease.

Here are some prominent people who have been treated for PCa.

This list is from:

http://menshealth.about.com/cs/prostatehealth/a/prostate_cancer.htm

Harry Belafonte Singer and actor

Bob Dole World Former Republican senator from Kansas

De Niro Actor director

Emperor Akihito of Japan

Louis Farrakhan Civil right activist, leader of the Nation of Islam

Rudy Giuliani Former New York City mayor

Charlton Heston Actor

Kerry Vietnam veteran, Democratic senator of Massachusetts

Mandela South African Former President, Anti-apartheid activist, Lawyer

Francois Mitterand Former President of France

Actor

Arnold Palmer Golfer

Colin Retired Secretary of State, Army general

Norman Schwarzkopf Retired Army general

Joe Torre New York Yankees manager

Zappa Singer writer

I know Mitterand was only diagnosed after becoming metatstatic.

He died of the disease, but lived successfully on ADT for 15

years before it killed him.  I think most of the others are

thought to be disease free.

    Alan

[Guest guest]

Zappa died of the disease as well.

 

Larry Helber wrote:> ... I personally know of 3 men who had prostate cancer,> received therapy and now have been considered cured by not

> having any signs of the cancer for more than 5 years. ...You probably know, or at least know of, a lot more than three.I was treated for prostate cancer in 2003/2004 and appear (knockon wood) to have no current evidence of disease.

Here are some prominent people who have been treated for PCa.This list is from:http://menshealth.about.com/cs/prostatehealth/a/prostate_cancer.htm

Harry Belafonte Singer and actorBob Dole World Former Republican senator from Kansas De Niro Actor directorEmperor Akihito of JapanLouis Farrakhan Civil right activist, leader of the Nation of Islam

Rudy Giuliani Former New York City mayorCharlton Heston Actor Kerry Vietnam veteran, Democratic senator of Massachusetts Mandela South African Former President, Anti-apartheid activist, LawyerFrancois Mitterand Former President of France

ActorArnold Palmer GolferColin Retired Secretary of State, Army generalNorman Schwarzkopf Retired Army generalJoe Torre New York Yankees manager Zappa Singer writerI know Mitterand was only diagnosed after becoming metatstatic.

He died of the disease, but lived successfully on ADT for 15years before it killed him.  I think most of the others arethought to be disease free.    Alan

-- Emersonwww.flhw.org

Every 2.25 minutes a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer.Every 16.5 minutes a man dies from the disease.

[Guest guest]

BOB wrote:  <snip> (not sure I'm doing the snip right)  What I do know is that every man who lives up to 5 years after treatment, even though he may still have an active case of PCa which is progressing and he is actively

being treated, that man becomes part and parcel of the 5 year cure rate

statistic. Even if he passes away in the sixth or seventh year from PCa. He won't be part of any 10 year cure rate statistic but he certainly will be in the 5 year cure rate statistic. <snip>The interesting thing about cure or biochemical free survival rates published in peer reviewed journals are that a 10 year " cure rate " could be based on five years average follow-up data.   So that person BOB mentions who dies at year 7 could be part of a 10 year cure rate.   The maximum number of follow-up years is 10 years but he, for some reason, was only followed up for 5 years.   The difference between the years listed for biochemical free survival and the average number of years of follow-up is usually quite large.   That seems deceptive to me but that's the way it's done. 

Here are a few examples (I won't mention the authors- they are big name surgeons and brachytherapists).   10 year cure rate based on average 6 years follow-up.  5 year cure rate based on 2 years average follow-up.  

So when you hear a cure rate or biochemical free survival rate, remember, it's based on probably 2/3 or less the number of average follow-up years.  And then there's the ASTRO vs. 0.2 PSA problem.....Chris 

 

Zappa died of the disease as well.

 

Larry Helber wrote:> ... I personally know of 3 men who had prostate cancer,> received therapy and now have been considered cured by not

> having any signs of the cancer for more than 5 years. ...You probably know, or at least know of, a lot more than three.I was treated for prostate cancer in 2003/2004 and appear (knockon wood) to have no current evidence of disease.

Here are some prominent people who have been treated for PCa.This list is from:http://menshealth.about.com/cs/prostatehealth/a/prostate_cancer.htm

Harry Belafonte Singer and actorBob Dole World Former Republican senator from Kansas De Niro Actor directorEmperor Akihito of JapanLouis Farrakhan Civil right activist, leader of the Nation of Islam

Rudy Giuliani Former New York City mayorCharlton Heston Actor Kerry Vietnam veteran, Democratic senator of Massachusetts Mandela South African Former President, Anti-apartheid activist, LawyerFrancois Mitterand Former President of France

ActorArnold Palmer GolferColin Retired Secretary of State, Army generalNorman Schwarzkopf Retired Army generalJoe Torre New York Yankees manager Zappa Singer writerI know Mitterand was only diagnosed after becoming metatstatic.

He died of the disease, but lived successfully on ADT for 15years before it killed him.  I think most of the others arethought to be disease free.    Alan

-- Emersonwww.flhw.org

Every 2.25 minutes a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer.Every 16.5 minutes a man dies from the disease.