What are best cancer treatment options
My recent visit to the doctor shows these diagnosis:
A. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, TARGETED RIGHT MID GLAND:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1 (Gleason score 3+3), 80% of core involved.
B. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, TARGETED RIGHT MID GLAND:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 2 (Gleason score 3+4), 60% of core involved.
C. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, TARGETED RIGHT MID GLAND:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1 (Gleason score 3+3), 70% of core involved.
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1 (Gleason score 3+3), 20% of core involved.
I. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, LEFT MEDIAL APEX:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1 (Gleason score 3+3), 10% of core involved.
J. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, RIGHT LATERAL BASE:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1 (Gleason score 3+3), 25% of core involved
L. PROSTATE CORE BIOPSY, RIGHT LATERAL MIDGLAND:
-Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 2 (Gleason score 3+4), 60% of core involved.
Carcinoma Summary:
Grade Group: Grade Group: 2 / 5 (Gleason score 3+4=7)
High-grade PIN: present
Perineural Invasion: present
Cribriform Pattern: absent
Intraductal Carcinoma: absent
Periprostatic Fat Invasion: absent
Cancer Extent: 7 / 15 cores; 20 % of all core tissue
Pattern 4 accounts for 5 % of tumor
My urologist is pushing for radical prostatectomy or Brachytherapy. I was schedule for operation for November 22nd but issues concerning the spread put a delay and cancellation of the procedure. Luckily I found this forum and discovered other treatment options which has less side effect such as the VARIAN TRUEBEAM using spaceOAR. The spaceOAR is said to protect vital organs from being zapped thus reducing erectile dysfunction and urinal incontinence.
I live in canada, does anyone know if the VarianTruebeam is available in Canada. And how effective is the treatment since external radiatio is said to be less effective than internal radiation (Brachytherapy).
Varian Truebeam is a brand name for the manufacturer of the machine. There are multiple machine brands that do the same or similar depending on the hospital. Most major cancer centers/ hospitals will use some variation. I also had the SpaceOAR done before my radiation treatment.
Call around to different centers to see what they are using. Don't get hung up on the name of a machine. You might want to get a second or third opinion...
Hi Alan226, Thanks, I will do as you said
Both radiation and surgery can have a similar impact on sexual performance. The latter is instant while radiation takes a bit longer average if I recall is about 5 years). I did surgery and was able to have erections after a few weeks.
To your question "Which is the best" is tough because we all are different and react differently to treatments. If cancer returns after surgery you can easily follow up with radiation -- the reverse is not as easy as radiation destroys tissue often making repair difficult. The best advice I can offer is do not get hooked on names or procedures I would most likely get several opinions and then make a decision on what feels right to you. No one can foretell the future so you could go through one approach and be fine or not as there are no guarantees as to outcome.
Gleason 7's are most likely treated vs defaulting to watch and wait - that said you have time to explore options. I had a Gleason 9 and did surgery in 2013 - it came back 5 years later and I then did 8 weeks of radiation. And today I have no evidence if disease and finger are crossed. A guy in my group had the same surgery, surgeon and Gleason score - he never had a return of cancer. Again you just do not know in advance what the outcome will be.
I put it this way ... we all do the fact-finding and research and at some point we take a deep breadth and make an emotional decision to go in one direction or another and hope for the best. Good luck ... just try to avoid paralysis analysis 👍 Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM
Thank you so much Dennis. Would you please tell me more about your surgery? What was your Gleason score before the procedure? why did it re-occur? was it that not enough of the cancers were taken out? I heard there is a robotic operation called Davinci, that it is super effective, was that what you went through.
My apologies for plunging you into many questions, I feel I can trust you with answers. Thanks you so much.@Olom My surgeon had done over 2,000 prostate cancer DaVinci surgeries. The important point is the skill of the surgeon vs the type of equipment s/he is using. That was one of the first questions asked. My pathology reports during and after the surgery showed no evidence of spread -- so it was safe to presume all been removed. You only need one cell to escape to cause issues. Given you are dealing with millions of cells - reoccurrence can happen. I had Gleason 9 with no evidence of spread prior to surgery. All of my pre-op scans also indicated no spread.
The surgery is major surgery and yet I recovery quickly. I was up and waking hours after surgery, and up and down stairs in my home on day 2. I was outside walking on day 3. On day 10 my catheter was removed and I had pads for 2 months and slowly regained full control by month 5 ... By month2 ... I was having erections and was on a daily low dose protocol of Viagra .Feel free to ask any questions and it is why I am here.If you are considering Radiation please accept my personal invitation to view a video journal I did for my 8 weeks of radiation combined with hormone therapy . The journal can be found at www.TheProstateCancerCoach.com. The coach site is underwritten by www.PCaAware.org. If you are more comfortable doing so feel free to private message me with any additional questions. Good luck ... Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)
No apologies needed - Ask away
Thanks Dennis for the links, they are keeping me occupied. Appreciated. One more thing, do erection come naturally after radical surgery or medication is required?
