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What are the Odds No Cancer Ever Returns After a radical prostatectomy

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Mar 31 1:28pm | Replies (33)
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@mrscott

It's a numbers game, as doctors don't have tests or scans that can examine every cell in your body (or at least not one you survive), so how could they tell? What is available is statistics for men with similar disease, age, etc.

Please see the 2022 Virtual Conference Day 1 at the PCRI.org YouTube channel, there's lots of info and IIRC percentages for each treatment.

What I am seeing as having the best numbers for my situation is EBRT + ADT + HDR brachytherapy boost.

If getting ADT, the side-effects are nasty (it has to harm the cancer cells, after all, and they are not as different from normal cells as would be convenient for treatment) so there are mitigations you really want to do.


All I can say for the treatments is that they beat dying.

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Replies to "It's a numbers game, as doctors don't have tests or scans that can examine every cell..."
bens1 | @bens1 | Oct 26, 2022

Thank you @mrscott I will listen to that and try and get some insight

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mrscott | @mrscott | Nov 4, 2022

I have reconsidered ADT (for borderline-Unfavorable Intermediate); starting to better understand the side-effects. They include e.g. (not sure how long it takes) collegenating the muscles involved in erections or turning them to fat; irreversible at the current state of the art. Which beats dying, and there are penile implants, IF that's the choice you are up against.
ADT is not something to choose casually, although the recurrence numbers are better. As with all the PCa therapies, over-treatment costs you.


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mrscott | @mrscott | Mar 30 11:41am

This was a response early in my research, before I really understood that the treatments do damage as well. None of the options (including not getting treatment) are good (increase overall health or are fun) *as such*; however if you have Gleason 4 or above, usually treatment beats dying early in extreme pain. Unless something else is going to get you before the (usually slow) PCa does.
The goal is to spend wisely; get enough treatment, without over-treatment. And to keep monitoring for recurrence.

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