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Does anyone have first hand experience with Nanoknife procedure?
Has anyone experienced Nano Knife prostate ablation postop experience over variuos time periods. PSA 3 months after, after affects and thoghts on longer term
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I would think that 2 months out from treatment that your result is rather positive. I had similar numbers to you in the sense that my PSA went from 5.75 to 17.5 in a pretty linear fashion but that rise was over 5 years. Yours on the other hand saw a similar increase but in a much shorter time frame. I wonder if your relatively rapid PSA rise wasn’t a result of something other than prostate cancer? Were you having any urinary issues at the time?
You say you had a 3+4 on your targeted biopsy but was that just a single core? How many cores were taken? Any idea about % of 4?
Anyway, your numbers look very good to me. All the best.
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3 ReactionsI am scheduled for NanoKnife IRE tomorrow. I'll report. My Medicare Advantage plan denied coverage. Has anyone had any luck getting insurers or medicare to cover?
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2 ReactionsHi Sliver Fox,
Unfortunately that is one of the down sides of advantage plans, with the supplement plans like “N” you don’t need a pre-authorization you can chose any Doctor or Hospital. They cost more, but you really do get what you pay for. I would recommend seeing if you can change to a supplement plan. This way you won’t have any worries about pre-authorization or being denied……..
Respectfully Ray 👍🏻✅😊 Thanks for your reply 👍🏻 hope everything gos well for you 🙏
@silverfox77 Most commercial health insurance (work or individual) will not cover NanoKnife because it is classified as experimental (same for most if not all focal prostate cancer treatments). Same with Advantage plans. Classic Medicare covers the procedure. It will be hard to switch and get a supplement at reasonable cost unless your Advantage plan gets discontinued. Switching allows insurers to price the supplement based on current health conditions and that can be several times the price if you had got it when you first started Medicare. So you can get 80% of the cost covered on classic Medicare without a supplement.
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2 ReactionsUnfortunately 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 😊✅😎
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1 Reaction@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.
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1 ReactionHi 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 😊🇺🇸👍🏻
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1 ReactionMy 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.
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1 ReactionVery sorry to hear that…. I hope you get the right Doctor & procedure……..
Ray
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1 ReactionI 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.
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