PSA level after Proton Therapy

Posted by bandit11 @bandit11, Mar 27, 2023

Had 29 sessions of Proton Therapy about 10 months ago. Was unfavorable intermediate with PSA level of 8.6 and chose not to do ADT. Curious about others post treatment ADT in similar circumstances. My first post treatment PSA was 2.8 at 3 months and 2.5 at 6 months. Radiologist said well within expectations as long as trend continues downward. Next PSA test at one year.

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My PSA was approaching 11 when I had 45 sessions of EBRT for PC. Gleason was 3+3=6. I also chose not to do ADT, based on advice from my Radiation Oncologist. Now, 7.5 years later, my PSA is 0.19. I don't recall how quickly it dropped, but it has been below 1 for a long time. Both the RO and Urologist told me it is common for the PSA to rise temporally, but that never happened.

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My brother had a 6.8 psa and spread outside of the prostate. He had Mridian viewray treatment in December/ January plus adt. As of a week ago, his psa was .13. My psa was 10.2 and I had Mridian treatment finish in February (diagnosis said cancer contained within the prostate) with no adt (though 1 RO suggested adt because of my psa) and I will have a psa test in June or sooner but it takes a while for the radiation to work through your system.

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@bens1

My brother had a 6.8 psa and spread outside of the prostate. He had Mridian viewray treatment in December/ January plus adt. As of a week ago, his psa was .13. My psa was 10.2 and I had Mridian treatment finish in February (diagnosis said cancer contained within the prostate) with no adt (though 1 RO suggested adt because of my psa) and I will have a psa test in June or sooner but it takes a while for the radiation to work through your system.

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That’s because unlike ablation that destroys the cancer , radiation destroys the ability of the cancer to repair itself and hence that takes time. My thought is why wouldn’t some form of ablation not be better than radiation?

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imbimbo: when I looked into ablation, I came away with the impression that it does not last as long as radiation. Part of it may be ablation seems to take different forms heat, cold, ultrasound....Its almost as if its still a work in progress.

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@imbimbo

That’s because unlike ablation that destroys the cancer , radiation destroys the ability of the cancer to repair itself and hence that takes time. My thought is why wouldn’t some form of ablation not be better than radiation?

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From what I know ablation only targets the cancer not the whole prostate like radiation. When they give the BS about sparing healthy tissue it is the tissue around the prostate they are sparing. I tried to get HIFU done on my lesion but had too many calcifications to do it properly. The doctor said he did not want me to be his guinea pig. At least he was honest which is more than I can say for all those doctors and government officials who were and still are pushing covid vaccines and boosters.

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"still are pushing covid vaccines and boosters"? Please.

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@mikewo

From what I know ablation only targets the cancer not the whole prostate like radiation. When they give the BS about sparing healthy tissue it is the tissue around the prostate they are sparing. I tried to get HIFU done on my lesion but had too many calcifications to do it properly. The doctor said he did not want me to be his guinea pig. At least he was honest which is more than I can say for all those doctors and government officials who were and still are pushing covid vaccines and boosters.

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HIFU can be applied to the entire prostate or to just the lesions . Depends upon what an MRI and a biopsy shows. What are calcifications on the prostate that’s the first I have heard of it in the year I have been reading about treatments

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@imbimbo

That’s because unlike ablation that destroys the cancer , radiation destroys the ability of the cancer to repair itself and hence that takes time. My thought is why wouldn’t some form of ablation not be better than radiation?

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It’s not a new therapy but I believe that it has not been studied enough for long term effectiveness. Certainly better in my opinion than radiation as it should not damage anything outside the prostate. My cousin had his prostate removed five years ago. PSA started to elevate. He underwent PSMA scan and they found something on a lymph node. More surgery and they did not find anything so he starts ADT and 39 radiation treatments. So I see no guarantee that the traditional so called gold treatments work all the time . Seems some get only five years. As a result I am doing active surveillance as long as it is safe for me to do so. My decipher score came back low risk

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@mikewo

From what I know ablation only targets the cancer not the whole prostate like radiation. When they give the BS about sparing healthy tissue it is the tissue around the prostate they are sparing. I tried to get HIFU done on my lesion but had too many calcifications to do it properly. The doctor said he did not want me to be his guinea pig. At least he was honest which is more than I can say for all those doctors and government officials who were and still are pushing covid vaccines and boosters.

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This forum is for support on prostate cancer, experiences, links to scholarly articles on treatments, please leave other discussions off.

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HIFU is used to treat localized prostate cancer and I considered it but the expert at Mayo said I had too much calcifications in my prostate to attempt it successfully. He said he did not want me to be his guinea pig. HIFU only targets the lesion and margins and not the whole prostate.

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