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video from PCRI suggests long-term beam radiation BCR rates are 50%
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 19 hours ago | Replies (49)Comment receiving replies
@kenk1962 I finished the same treatment as you 18 months ago and finished six months of ADT a year ago. So far, my PSA is at .04 and holding so I feel I'm doing OK. I was just moved from 3 to 6 month PSA testing. It does seem like today's radiation treatments are much more targeted and stronger. At the very least, I'll be helping to provide data about the effectiveness of SBRT over time since there isn't that much yet.
Replies to "@kenk1962 I finished the same treatment as you 18 months ago and finished six months of..."
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@scottbeammeup Six month duration of ADT for me too. And congratulations too on a PSA of 0.04 at the 18-month mark - so excellent!
As a side note, I inquired into the amount of radiation (measured in units of Gy) I received from my SBRT. They told me I received 37.5 Gy.
When I met with my Mayo radiation oncologist I inquired into whether SBRT plus a brachytherapy boost would be beneficial. She replied "no", although she was open to doing brachy on me. I passed because there was a 45 day extra wait for brachy and I needed to complete the treatment and get back to work. The radiation oncologist also asserted her belief that SBRT and brachy typically had the same level of favorable results for my Gleason 4+3 situation
Finally, I should probably add that as soon as the six-month ADT period (Mayo only recommended a four month period, but I decided on six because seemed a bit safer) was over I re-started my TRT. I had reached a PSA of 0.1 one month after completing my five SBRT fractions (i.e., at the four-month ADT point). I needed to restart my TRT because I'm unable to work when I'm at castrate level testosterone. I don't know if this will be a mistake for me, but I take a degree of comfort in the generally promising, encouraging results from Harvard-trained urologist Dr. Abraham Morgantaler's three-decade of work where he's seen many patients on TRT after prostate cancer treatment do well.