Re: what to do?

[Guest guest]

hard2_plz wrote:

> Thank you for all the responses. To clarify my situation, I am

> 49 and in excellent health otherwise. I am diagnosed with a

> gleason 7 tumor. I have the option of prostate removal or

> Radiation treatment with hormone therapy (Lupron and Casodex).

> I am very confused and don't know what to do.

As I understand it, the outcomes for surgery, x-radiation, and proton

beams, are pretty similar in terms of cancer cure rates.  Some

newer techniques like cryotherapy and HIFU (again as I understand

it) have not yet achieved the same success rates.

As others have said, a key factor in success is finding a good

surgeon or radiation oncologist - one with a lot of experience

and a good attitude to his patients.  You want a doctor who

really specializes in prostate cancer, not a urologist who mostly

treats female incontinence or a radiation oncologist who mostly

treats brain cancer.  Ask how many cases of prostate cancer the

doctor treats per year.  Some say 50 cases (one per week) is a

minimum.  There are doctors who treat 200 per year.  It's all

they do and they get very good at it.

Your age might be a factor in treatment.  It has been argued that

younger men should choose surgery over radiation because 1) they

are well able to heal after surgery 2) they (hopefully) will live

a long time and therefore have more chance of suffering from a

radiation induced secondary cancer.  For those who believe that

surgery provides longer time cancer control (I'm not one of them)

that has also been an argument for surgery.

Do check out useful web resources:

    http://www.yananow.org

    http://www.cancer.gov

    http://www.prostate-cancer.org/pcricms/

    http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/403.cfm

Best of luck.

    Alan

[Guest guest]

a) What about brachytherapy (seed implants)? That's another choice, often a

good one, if you qualify and there's a good clinic.

How large is your tumor? Is it still " organ-confined " , according to the

biopsy?

c) Is the Gleason 7 stated as " 4+3 " or " 3+4 " ?

d) What's your PSA?

PS - sorry I'm answering these questions in the wrong order.

>

> Thank you for all the responses. To clarify my situation, I am 49 and in

excellent health otherwise. I am diagnosed with a gleason 7 tumor. I have the

option of prostate removal or Radiation treatment with hormone therapy (Lupron

and Casodex). I am very

> confused and don't know what to do.

>