Connect
← Return to video from PCRI suggests long-term beam radiation BCR rates are 50%
Discussion
video from PCRI suggests long-term beam radiation BCR rates are 50%
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Oct 5 12:47pm | Replies (50)Comment receiving replies
@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.
Replies to "@scottbeammeup Six month duration of ADT for me too. And congratulations too on a PSA of..."
Connect
@kenk1962 My treatment was similar but I got 40 Gy. My testosterone hasn't recovered much a year after stopping Orgovyx (220 vs. ~550 pre-treatment) so next month I have a meeting with my oncologist. I'm starting to develop metabolic syndrome from low T (osteoporosis, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes) plus all the negative mental stuff from while I was on ADT is returning.
Oncologist, sexual health doctor and endocrinologist are recommending raising my T to 400-450 to help me feel better, get cholesterol under control, etc. My GP and urologist are dead set against this saying it's unproven whether this is safe.
I have a month to decide. I'm leaning towards doing this because my PSA is low enough that I have some wiggle room so that if it starts to rise I can stop, but I have mixed feelings. It would be GREAT to finally start to feel normal again but I also don't want to cause the cancer to start growing again. I know what you mean about needing T to work--I had to quit my job as a data analyst and can barely concentrate on anything anymore, though going on meds has helped.