Anyone had salvage radiation therapy post-prostatectomy?
I had radical prostatectomy surgery back in the summer of 2011 and have recently experienced rising PSA levels. My PSA levels were never completely undetectable but have rises from an average of .08 to my most recent of .13 in the last 2 years. My urologist referred me to their radiation oncologist and he said that I was early for salvage radiation therapy last summer. I am hesitant to have the radiation earlier than necessary (if it is even necessary) as I am worried about side effects. I have no symptoms related to my prostatectormy and am nervous about the possibilities of having something to deal with after radiation. I am 68 years old.
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Good morning
I have been reading lots of articles about using ozone therapy (used in some countries such as Spain) but still controversial here in USA.
Has anyone tried it to reduce or eliminate impact of rising PSA ?
I personally have not but there are no large studies - I think one had 40(?) participants. Used mostly for active surveillance; but these are invasive multiple treatments similar to biopsy so not something I would have pursued.
Phil
Phil
Thank you for sharing and you are in my prayers to beat that damn cancer.
Thanks again for sharing your experience. It would be an easy decision for me to pursue radiation therapy immediately except that my wife and I have custody of and are raising our 10-year-old granddaughter. My wife is suffering from chronic autoimmune issues so I need to be at full strength to take care of both of these ladies. I worry that side-effects of radiation might make it difficult to give them the support they need.
I had seven weeks of Salvage radiation When it didn’t affect me at all. I know some people had a little fatigue, but I just went to work and never noticed anything.
Radiation isn’t normally like chemo where you can be sick for a couple of days.
You could follow Dr. Scholz’s advice to just get an SBRT pet scan and zap metastasis. Consider that salvage radiation really only works for 1/3 of people.
Another thing to consider “When PSA rises but can’t find it in the PSMA Pet scan do an MRI, it will be found in Retroperitoneum or lung with high frequency”