Tulsa Pro Experience, Mayo Clinic MN – July 2024

AWESOME. I'm happy everything worked out well for you. I have not had that treatment myself but others on here will have questions. Thank you for sharing and best to you on your journey.

I'm trying to make a decision between TULSA PRO and SBRT Radiation. I've seen a radiation oncologist at Mayo Rochester and am about to have a consult with Dr. Woodrum at Mayo regarding Focal Therapy for my cancer. Gleason 3+4, less than or equal to 5% pattern 4, lesion approximately 1 cc. One lesion as best the MRI can tell, anterior transition zone mid gland. I have a large prostate 100cc. I would assume you had similar factors to deal with. How did you arrive at your decision? Radiation oncologist tells me TULSA PRO is not a standard of care. Who were your doctors who did the procedure? Was this procedure covered by Medicare if you are on Medicare? Good to hear you had such a good result! Do you know what will be your follow on monitoring and surveillance protocol?

I saw a News special on HIFU last fall and told my wife if I do get cancer, that is what i want to do. My cancer was anterior so HIFU was not an option. My urologist mentioned Mayo was doing some advanced things but she recommended surgery. I just didn't like the high risk of side effects. I found the Mayo clinical study on TULSA and submitted all my info to see if I could get in. TULSA appeared to be HIFU on steroids' with a high level of precision and exponentially fewer side effects. Saw the world class facilities around the country that were using it and I was sold. Talked to Dr. Woodrum who said I was an ideal candidate (contained in small lesion and 45cc prostate) and he did the procedure. Many doctors will tell you it is not the standard of care. My feeling is Robotic surgery was also not the standard of care at one time. A few days after my decision, this study came out that showed ablation has excellent results at 30 months (https://www.renalandurologynews.com/reports/prostate-cancer-focal-therapy-not-inferior-prostatectomy/). Medicare has official codes coming out in January to pay for it. I guess there are some other temp codes that work now and I believe mine will be covered. I was going forward with it regardless and didn't
check any further (I will update you when I see the bill). The follow-up is extensive and that gave me complete confidence in the procedure: PSA every 3 months for 2 years, MRI every 6 months for 2 years, and biopsy at 18 months. Also, all other treatments are still in play if needed down the road. Good luck

thank you! That is my thinking as well...............all other options still available should they be needed in the future. And since mine is anterior as well, Focal One/HIFU not an option, but TULSA-PRO I would think is. I talk with Dr. Woodrum by video on this coming Tuesday. A few days before I knew I could get to talk with him, I almost pulled the trigger on SBRT, but for some reason decided to wait a few more days. It's as if the Universe is trying to tell me something. I'd like to kill 3 birds with one stone.............reduce the size of my prostate, improve my urinary flow around my urethra, and treat the lesion. It will be interesting to see what he has to say. Who was the urologist involved in your procedure............or was it just Dr. Woodrum? Will you also now do all of your follow up in the years to come with Mayo?

There was a urologist listed in my treatment team, but I never talked with him. I also did a video meeting with Doctor Woodrum and then didn’t meet him until just before going into surgery. As for follow up, I can do all the bloodwork up here in Minneapolis, but they prefer I come down there for the MRIs.

Good information. I am a good candidate for TULSA according to the DR. at OU Medical Center, three hours away. Since it isn't yet covered by insurance the Dr. has me on active surveillance and I go back Aug. 28. My local urologist never heard of TULSA so I found it with research. I'm hoping my numbers stay low until the procedure is covered by ins. but I'm willing to pay on my own to save my life. I'm looking for quality of life not just longevity and TULSA PRO looks to be the treatment for for that.

@jcf58 there are a number of different photon Radiation machine choices. I chose to have the Mridian machine. It has a built-in Mri so what you see is what you treat. The Electa is another machine that has similar capability. Having a built-in Mri is a big deal. Fused images transferred to a machine does not give the same accuracy. This is shown in the Mirage study. Equally important, the machine used 2 mm margins because of the accuracy while other types of radiation machines used 3 to 5 mm margins. The larger the margin, the more healthy tissue that is exposed and the greater the chance of side effects.

I had the procedure on April 10, 2024 at Mayo Jax and had a follow up today by video. I am 79 and interested in bathroom and bedroom issues more than longevity given that I have two other cancers. Everything went well given my priorities with little pain and function issues. In reviewing my labs, the Dr did note that the PSA should have had a better result in that it went up a little rather than down. He has scheduled another MRI/PSA review in December.

I had a great video consult with Dr. Woodrum. I'm scheduled for the procedure on October 9. Hoping for the best possible results. Thanks much!

Excellent! Waiting for the procedure was the toughest part for me 😉. Best of luck. Hope your experience will be as positive as mine has been.