Nano Knife

Unfortunately you are correct……. I had the traditional Medicare A&B and Tri-Care for life as a 20 yrs Air Force Veteran ……… Mayo Clinic however does not consider it experimental due to the high success rate and a lower cost because it uses small electrical current. The biggest cost however is the General anesthesia & the Doctors fees. I was on the table 2.5 hours……..

Ray 😊✅😎

@jim18 Just to add that some states require some degree of medigap guaranteed issue from insurers, so it would be good for the OP to check his state's regs.

Hi Jim.

Yes, Medicare parts A&B and a good supplement plan such as “N” you will be good to go😊 especially at a Center of excellence……

Ray 😊🇺🇸👍🏻

My first oncologist did a Nano Knife (irreversible electroporation (IRE)) and it was a dismal failure. To add to the tragedy, he was supposed to do a cryo-ablation but changed his mind like a quarterback doing an audible on the line of scrimmage. My first round pick was a huge disappointment.

Very sorry to hear that…. I hope you get the right Doctor & procedure……..

Ray

I was treated with nano-knife - no collateral damage (to my knowledge). The radiation oncologist said that the radiation continues to have effect much after the treatment is over. Thus, the PSA may go down further.
To distinguish whether the PSA is from the cancer cells or the normal cells: If it is from the cancer cells, the PSA quantity will grow exponentially. If it is from normal cells, it will stabilize to some steady value. Therefore, it is important to get PSA checked at equal time intervals, say every 90 days.

@lsk1000
That's very odd. Did they ask you if you were OK with the switch? My surgeon offered both IRE and Cryo. I choose IRE because it was supposed to have less negative effects on surrounding structures. Did you have any negative side effects from the procedure? Was it performed at a center of excellence?

@swl1956 Very odd unless when he went in there he saw something to change his mind. My cousin who we all look up to as a genius did the procedure, and no, I was out like a light when the audible was called. No negative effect except for it didn’t work, PSA rose after a few months. I wasn’t happy.

@lsk1000
Yeah, It sucks when things don't go the way we hope. I too was disappointed that it didn't solve my Pca problem, but in my case the IRE actually was successful at killing the tumor in my prostate. The micro-metastasis in my lymph nodes was evidently too minute to be picked up by the psma pet scan earlier on. Was your recurrance in the prostate gland or did it metastasize? What is / was your next course of action?

@swl1956 A year later Gleason rose from 7 to 9. Had a prostatectomy, then salvage radiation shortly after. Relapsed again. PSA .053 but PSMA detected some activity, so on Orgovyx and Nubeqa for 12 months, 6 months to go. I expect the course in ADT to repeat itself interminably.