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Tulsa Pro Experience, Mayo Clinic MN – July 2024
Gleason 7 (4+3). I was treated Wednesday July 17, 2024. I checked in at 7am, entered the MRI/Tulsa suite at 8:15, and woke up in the recovery room around 11:30am. Approximately 30% of my prostate was ablated. I woke up with no pain and catheter in. The first 5-6 hours of the catheter were a little tough as I felt an urgent need to pee, but you can’t because you have the catheter in. Was fine after that. I did take Oxybutynin for bladder spasms at night. At 12:30pm, I walked out of the hospital and 2 blocks to my car to be driven home to Minneapolis.
Over the course of the next 40 hours, I just needed to regularly empty the catheter bag and continued to have no pain. Didn’t even take a Tylenol. The morning after TULSA I took my normal 2 mile walk. Catheter was removed at 7:45 Friday morning and I was good to go home. Catheter removal was not bad and they had to ensure I could pee on my own before release. Urine stream is about half of normal but will improve as inflammation of urethra declines. No medication needed at this point.
I did a ton of research before deciding on TULSA Pro. I talked to 7 different doctors. 4 current and 3 retired (1 had RP and another had radiation). The technology and low risk of side effects made this an easy choice for me. I was also fortunate to have the cancer contained in a fairly small lesion.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the procedure and my care at Mayo.
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I have a phone consult with Dr. Woodrum next Thursday. I am scheduled for SBRT with 4 mos. ADT Mayo, MN early October. Hoping to avoid hormone treatment, thus TULSA. Anyone know how many TULSA procedures Dr. Woodrum has performed?? Hopefully he has a lot of experience with this procedure. My best.
Not sure how many , but he has been doing them for about 18 months. However, he has been doing ablations of other things for many years. He spoke very highly of the precision the TULSA system gives him.
Also found this online before my TULSA. A few years old but still valid for experience:
Focal therapy for the prostate began in the late 1990s; however, there is a very limited number of providers who are trained and skilled enough to perform this procedure. These 5 doctors have the most experience and have performed the most Focal Laser Ablation procedures:
Myself — Eric Walser, MD of Wavelength Medical by UTMB (Galveston, TX)
Dan Sperling, MD of Sperling Prostate Center (Boca Raton, FL)
Jurgen Futterer, MD, PhD of Radboud (The Netherlands)
David Woodrum, MD, PhD of Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
John Feller, MD of Desert Medical Imaging (Indian Wells, CA)
Where did you find the information on these doctors? I've been looking for this kind of info but my internet skills obviously aren't at your level. Thanks!
Your situation sounds very similar to mine. Would you share some additional details about your cancer? I have one lesion, about 1 cc. Gleason 3+4, right anterior, mid-gland, less than 5-10% pattern 4. Only 1 of my 13 core samples in a prostate of 100cc came back positive. My only down side is a Decipher Score of 0.78. Mayo, MN radiation oncologist suggested 4 mos. ADT + SBRT. They were "on the fence" regarding ADT. At that time I said no to ADT. I had a phone consult with Dr. Woodrum following that. I've opted for TULSA-PRO and will have the procedure in early October. I've opted for focal therapy because Dr. Woodrum said the chances of the cancer returning no matter the procedure (surgery, radiation, focal therapy) are about the same (15-20%), although the radiation oncologist took issue with FT and said because prostate cancer is multi-focal in nature there is greater likelihood of it returning somewhere else in the untreated part of the prostate. My thought process however is, if it does return, I still have all of the treatment modalities available to me for treating it. I'm not sure that's the case if radiation is used, or if it's so easily achievable. I hope I'm making the right decision.
Also forgot to add. My last PSA was 8.5 and the biopsy found no large morphology cribiform present. I had second and third opinions done on my 3T MRI and biopsy results to try to make sure I knew what I was dealing with.
https://www.utmb.edu/radiology/wavelengthmedical/questions-answers/why-have-i-never-heard-of-focal-laser-ablation
Medicare Coverage: I had my procedure at Mayo on July 17. My final bill after Medicare and BCBS supplement plan was $6.
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1 ReactionThank you for the information. I'm scheduled with Dr. Woodrum for October 9. Hoping for similar results, but even if not and I have to pay more, I believe it is the right first step in dealing with this disease. I'll post more after my procedure is completed. Dr. Woodrum indicated at the time I had a video consult with him that TULSA-PRO was covered under Medicare.
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1 ReactionI went to an appointmet Aug. 27 at OU Stephenson Cancer Center with Dr. Stratton. This was my third visit there. Dr. Stratton said he has received a code for TULSA PRO treatment but Medicare won't pay yet. How do I find out for sure?
Others on this site have said it needs to be performed at a hospital to be paid by Medicare. I had mine done at Mayo's hospital in Rochester, MN. I didn't check with Medicare as I was going forward regardless. Profound Medical has reimbursement guidelines on their website that may help:
For additional assistance, please contact Profound Medical’s TULSA-PRO® reimbursement specialists at:
Phone (Toll-Free): 855-285-5724
Fax (Toll-Free): 833-557-0896
Email: Support@PROFOUNDReimbursement.com
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