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Recurrence post Tulsa Pro

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Apr 9 9:27am | Replies (23)

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Profile picture for Jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

Looks like you have run into what Dr. Cooperberg Had to say about focal therapy.

At the 11/1/2025 PCRI conference the following was said by Matthew R. Cooperberg, MD, MPH Urologic Oncologist UCSF

What about focal therapy?
* The energy modality matters much less than the accuracy of the imaging - which is not there yet.
* Overall focal therapy is associated with minor side effects, but high rates of recurrence both in- and out-of-field.
* Focal therapy is not really a replacement for surgery or radiation; it is better considered an adjunct to active surveillance

You have put on a list of a whole bunch of different treatment techniques. You really have given no information about what your preferred next treatment would be. There are a lot of options. SBRT radiation with a proton machine would Keep your sexual function for a while, But any radiation can burn up the nerves that you can get spared when doing surgery. For some people that means the loss of the ability to get an erection over time. The thing is there are solutions for that, The implant is very popular and works quite well to continue getting a good erection.

You could go focal again, It might take care of it.

Your PSA jumping to 7 does say you need to do something. As you know, your BPH problem could be solved by surgery, But that has a lot of other issues, can they spare the nerves for example?

Too many options, What do your doctors have to say? Are you willing to go anywhere to get the treatment you want?

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Replies to "Looks like you have run into what Dr. Cooperberg Had to say about focal therapy. At..."

@jeffmarc

Thanks for followup.

As mentioned somewhere in there I was turned away for further Tulsa Pro, mentioned reason was scar tissue + cavity area created by first tulsa pro and concerns that energy would get deflected from the scar tissue and cavity area. So no luck so far on tulsa repeat.

My next preferences are the either brachytherapy alone, or, proton SBRT which I call either of the Varian Probeam (and similars like Mevion I think it is called) or of course regular proton like Hitachi which is a larger scale proton system compared to the Probeam. I was in line in 2023 for Proton at Mayo Rochester, but after two months they said no slots available for foreseeable future. I think they bought the Probeam in Rochester since, but not sure. I got Tulsa Pro in FL when they had no slots on proton machine, anyway my prostate is smaller now so that is good.

I am looking all over, so much willing to travel and have done lots of travel for care already. I live in West NY, but have been at Mayo Rochester and had Tulsa in Florida.