44yr PSA180 Gleason9 non-metastatic. Surgery or Treatment?

Posted by dinu @dinu, Aug 29 11:17am

I am 44 yr old, Navy Veteran, just got diagnosed with prostate cancer. First rectal exam showed enlarged prostate, followed by PSA180. Biopsy showed 9 out of the 12 samples with cancer cells (most of them Gleason8 or 9). MRT shows no spread. CT with contrast shows no spread. I just got today my bone scintigraphy. Initial results show no spread. Father had prostate cancer last year, therapy, seems to be cured. Mother has breast cancer and stomach cancer (surgery and treatment) now cured.
My big question now: should i go for complete prostate removal or should i go with the various other treatments?
I am currently being seen for this at the University Clinic of Heidelberg in Germany.
Appreciate all the support and stay positive.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

As you probably know, Gleason nine is quite aggressive. I do know at least one person who had surgery with a Gleason nine and his cancer didn’t come back for 30 years. I know other people That were able to go 20 years without recurrence.

Yes, ADT and radiation can work, but it depends on the other things found in your biopsy. Were any of these found extra capillary extensions< intraductal, Cribriform, seminal vesicle invasion or EPE?

They can mean it is even more aggressive and that surgery plus radiation might be your best choice. Either that or IMRT followed by brachytherapy. This is something your doctor will decide, along with you.

Did you have a PSMA PET scan? That really is required in order to find out if you have had spread to anywhere else. What was your PSA when you had the scan?

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Thanks for responding. I’m very nervous and confused. Yes, I’m 64 years old and perfectly healthy. My path did have cCRIBRIform. Cell pattern. I just had a PSMAPET scan two days ago and it was clear. I really don’t wanna have to take the ADT medicine side effects and long-term things. Don’t sound good to me.

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

I’m glad you were finally able to get these results. The fact that it has gotten to your lymph nodes means that it’s in your bloodstream and could show up anywhere if you don’t take the right drugs. You should probably be on an ADT right away. Because your cancer has already spread to lymph nodes You want to be on ADT and probably an ARS I like Zytiga or Nubeqa. Speak to your doctor and find out what their recommendations are. They’re going to be different than they originally were because you didn’t think it had spread outside the prostate originally.

Due to the spread, they usually do not do surgery. They do radiation to treat the lymph nodes and your prostate and the prostate bed. They could take out the prostate and the lymph nodes if they’re easy to get to, but that would not be a normal procedure when there’s already spread.

Having spread to the seminal vesicles, it can be more aggressive as well, Even though you already have a Gleason nine That does increase the chance of reoccurrence.

I’m glad you have all this information already and can work with the doctors to get the best treatment so that you have the best chance of a long-term survival

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Hi Jeff, when microscopic prostate cancer cells enter the bloodstream from things like epe, lvi, and svi, do the cells typically spread all over the place immediately through the blood or does it sort of creep outward from the pelvic area?

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Profile picture for stevencuccia @stevencuccia

Thanks for responding. I’m very nervous and confused. Yes, I’m 64 years old and perfectly healthy. My path did have cCRIBRIform. Cell pattern. I just had a PSMAPET scan two days ago and it was clear. I really don’t wanna have to take the ADT medicine side effects and long-term things. Don’t sound good to me.

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What are your last two PSA results and the dates for each? How many of the biopsy cores were positive for PCa and what percent of each core was positive? How many cores had cribriform? Does the pathology report specify large or small cribriform pattern?

I think we were all scared and confused upon diagnosis. You are on the right track being on MCC to begin to get an understanding of what your diagnosis means, what the possible treatment options are and potential side effects for each as well as a perspective on the choices made by others and their reasons for them. I was diagnosed with Gleason 9 in many cores, cribriform and EPE so I have a pretty good idea of how one feels when the diagnosis is a very high risk PCa. Take a deep breath, relax and begin to read and ask as many question as you have.
Bill

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Profile picture for stevencuccia @stevencuccia

Thanks for responding. I’m very nervous and confused. Yes, I’m 64 years old and perfectly healthy. My path did have cCRIBRIform. Cell pattern. I just had a PSMAPET scan two days ago and it was clear. I really don’t wanna have to take the ADT medicine side effects and long-term things. Don’t sound good to me.

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I’ve been on ADT for nine years. In general, nobody would know I’m on it except I get hot flashes now and then. Yes, I do have to exercise. I walk the track across the street twice a day every day, a mile each time. I have to take bone strengtheners. I took Fosamax For six years a pill you take once a week and now I’m on quarterly Zometa infusions. I go to the gym 2 to 3 days a week to keep my muscles in shape. I’ve never had a fatigue problem because I do all the exercising, that is critical in order to beat the fatigue.

There are worse things than ADT like dying Yeung. I’ve had prostate cancer since I was 62, I had surgery 15 years ago and It came back 3 1/2 years later so they gave me an ADT shot and two months later radiation for 7 1/2 weeks. The radiation never bothered me. I went to work right after and never had a problem with it. I’ve had two more reoccurrences, but have been undetectable for the last 22 months. I’m just waiting till the current Treatment I’m on fails and I will then move onto the next one.

I never even realized how bad ADT was because that shot before radiation didn’t affect me at all, and I only had one of them.

Don’t be afraid of ADT it can give you many many years of progression free survival.

It wasn’t till 2 1/2 years after radiation that my cancer came back that I went on Lupron For 6 1/2 years and then Orgovyx for 2.5.

Cribriform can make prostate cancer very aggressive and you are already a Gleason nine. Holding off on ADT can really shorten your lifespan. You’re not only should be on ADT but your doctor will probably also want you on an ARSI like Zytiga or a Lutamide. That is recommended with aggressive Gleason nine. To minimize the side effects try to get your doctor to put you on Nubeqa. It is quite easy compared to the other drugs. Zytiga is just like taking super ADT and is very difficult for many people.

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Profile picture for johndavis60 @johndavis60

Hi Jeff, when microscopic prostate cancer cells enter the bloodstream from things like epe, lvi, and svi, do the cells typically spread all over the place immediately through the blood or does it sort of creep outward from the pelvic area?

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The cancer does not immediately spread to a lot of different places for most people. In many cases, it seems to go dormant and not come back for a few years, In other cases, people get bone Mets And they can be zapped with SBRT radiation.

Everybody is different so there’s no way to say what will happen. It’s just that you should be aware that a reoccurrence has a higher probability. That’s why getting a decipher test is important so you get an idea about what your chance of a reoccurrence is.

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

The cancer does not immediately spread to a lot of different places for most people. In many cases, it seems to go dormant and not come back for a few years, In other cases, people get bone Mets And they can be zapped with SBRT radiation.

Everybody is different so there’s no way to say what will happen. It’s just that you should be aware that a reoccurrence has a higher probability. That’s why getting a decipher test is important so you get an idea about what your chance of a reoccurrence is.

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Hi Jeff is someone had it only inside the prostate and had surgery, how does it come back? Thanks in advance for your reply.

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That is without any other adverse features or spread detected in biopsy or during surgery

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

The cancer does not immediately spread to a lot of different places for most people. In many cases, it seems to go dormant and not come back for a few years, In other cases, people get bone Mets And they can be zapped with SBRT radiation.

Everybody is different so there’s no way to say what will happen. It’s just that you should be aware that a reoccurrence has a higher probability. That’s why getting a decipher test is important so you get an idea about what your chance of a reoccurrence is.

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What are most cancer centers’ view on zapping Oligiometastatic men? Is it becoming more common?

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Profile picture for johndavis60 @johndavis60

What are most cancer centers’ view on zapping Oligiometastatic men? Is it becoming more common?

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If you have five or fewer mets then you can get SBRT radiation To treat them. But you also want to treat the prostate. Frequently that means SBRT radiation to both areas. Some doctors will do both, Others want to do IMRT to the prostate and then SBRT to the mets.

It varies a lot, what a doctor will want to do. Some might even want to do chemo, Which is what is done frequently if you have more than five mets.

The other things found in the biopsy can be a factor in what is decided would be best to do.

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

If you have five or fewer mets then you can get SBRT radiation To treat them. But you also want to treat the prostate. Frequently that means SBRT radiation to both areas. Some doctors will do both, Others want to do IMRT to the prostate and then SBRT to the mets.

It varies a lot, what a doctor will want to do. Some might even want to do chemo, Which is what is done frequently if you have more than five mets.

The other things found in the biopsy can be a factor in what is decided would be best to do.

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Thanks Jeff! My prostate is probably sitting in a freezer somewhere at the hospital, but I am interested in what they might do for me if I should develop a few bone mets at some point in the future. I see my RO every Wednesday while on radiation therapy so I’ll probably ask him next week. Thanks!

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