What Treatment Did You Have for Prostate Cancer?
Hello, my PSA was 6 when I got had my biopsy done, came back 3+4=7. Just starting to look at treatment options for prostate cancer. I would like to hear from others with similar biopsy results on what treatments they had and what the results where. Thanks
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Best,
Amylyn (ProstateCancer.net Team Member)
I had same numbers and chose the shot and radiation!
Going into my 5 year .03 PSA
The first couple years it takes your body time to get back to more normal progression.
I had same pathology and chose HDRBT. I am 3 years post treatment and no side effects and my PSA is 0.4.
First diagnosed in late 2017 with low risk. Went a little over a year on active surveillance and had moved to intermediate risk category with PSA of 13 (3+4). Made decision to go with radiation therapy (5 week version) with no ADT in 2019. After 6 months PSA had dropped to 6, after 12 months it was down to 2, and will soon be going into my 18 month appt. hoping to see even lower numbers which radiation oncologist highly believed would happen. PSA dropped slower in my case in part due to not taking ADT according to oncologist. I know ADT is recommended most often with intermediate risk category but had talked to a couple of men who did take ADT along with the radiation who discouraged it based on their experience. I've had very few side effects and most occurred shortly into the treatment itself......some burning while urinating, lower flow rate, and higher frequency. Currently have been taking Flomax generic for quite awhile as it helped the flow issue. May not even need it now but I keep using anyway. Pretty normal life thus far with little interruption with sex life as well.........which was one of the drivers in my decision making. I will soon be 72 which is also one of those things that should go into the decision making. If you are one that likes to dive into the data before making a decision (myself) I would recommend reading Patrick Walsh book on Surviving Prostate Cancer. I consider myself blessed so far and understand there are no guarantees and that every case can be different.
I'm 72yo, active healthy with BPH. My PSAs began elevating about 15 years ago....4-6-8...now 9. DREs reveal no indications. I had MRI (some lesions but pretty good) and a biopsys 3+3 4 in 2020. Surgeon at Merci Hospital Baltimore recommended surgery. I went to Hopkins in 2021 to pursue Active Survelience (AS). Had another biopsys. MRI was unchanged, Biopsys had a 3+4. Took the Decipher DNA which came back "very good" (3😎. Hopkins Urologist said AS was not an unreasonable path. 2024, 3rd MRI, unchanged and 3rd Biopsys detected a little more 3+4. Now weighing continued AS or treatment. Hopkins Urologist suggesting some kind of "whole gland treatment". Met with U of MD oconlogists who offer Proton Radiation that may only require 5 treatments but requires gel and markers insertions. Bottom line,,,,is my cancer lethal? Is the treatment worse than the disease. I can appreciate that no MD is going to say, "don't worry, you don't need treatment" and risk a patient's death. However studies have suggested that men can live an expected longevity with untreated low grade, indolent prostate cancer. Appreciate everyone's entrys and replys in this forum. Good luck Sorry you’re going through this. Your PSA is pretty high but your Gleason score is good. I’m not a doc but have been through Focal laser ablation for a 4+3. At the time, 10 years ago, I had a 3+3=6 tumor as well. It is cancer but probable just needs to be watched closely. I didn’t do anything until it turned into a 4+3=7. I had that ablated as well. If I get another tumor, I will have it ablated as well.
My best advice is take a deep breath and continue to research. If your urologist is pushing for surgery, fire him/her and find someone else. Get second and third opinions. I got 4 or 5 and talked to maybe 15 survivors and then joined a support group. Lotus of first hand info there.
Best of luck.
same Gleason. PSA went to 8.0. decided on RARP. PSA day of surgery 8.8. A yr and a half later PSA rising when it reached 2.0 decided to go with salvage external beam radiation therapy-39 sessions. PSA has been less than .06 (negligible) for 2+yrs. 71 yrs old overall healthy, active. urinary incontinence creates a need for pad (AM only-sometimes) ED a fact of life (not a concern for me)
Only side effect not anticipated was radiation cystitis-bleeding bladder. this side effect was minimized when I was researching.
Presently doing very well. 6 month PSAs and follow up urologist visit.
in retrospect I would choose RARP.
ADVICE: GET SECOND OPINIONS BEFORE MAKING FINAL DECISIONSLast July had a 4+5 = 9 Chose 27 radiation treatments and 18 months of hormone treatment. Last 5 PSA tests showed non detectable starting in Dec. Of last year.
