Any doctor recommendations for treatment at Mayo Clinic AZ?

@dandl48 Ty for your update and reply. Good to have Stith in my back pocket just in case...

Cheers

@tuckerp Ty for your reply and update and for sharing Dr Wolters. Will look him up to learn more about his practice. Your feedback about quality of care at Mayo is consistent from what I'm reading on this forum. This is great and further encourages me to take a more serious look at Mayo Phx as an option.

Cheers

@gonzaler84
You can’t send private messages for 30 days after you join.

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@jeffmarc Jeff, ty for clarifying. Appreciate the update.

Cheers

You mention that there was nothing else reported in the biopsy report.
> What about the MRI report - was there any mention about extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, or perineural invasion?

Note that with a Gleason 9 (very high-risk disease), the NCCN guidelines recommend doublet therapy (both ADT and ARPI) with external radiation (your Alternative 1). (See attached NCCN Guidelines chart.)

As you mention, the final treatment decision depends on the outcome of your PSMA PET scan.

For my localized, Gleason 7(4+3), PSA of 7.976, I used SpaceOAR Vue for my 28 proton radiation treatments. (SpaceOAR Vue is an enhancement of the standard SpaceOAR Hydrogel, containing approximately 1% iodine bound to the hydrogel to be more visible under CT scan.) Studies show that SpaceOAR not only reduces rectal radiation dose, but also reduces late GI and GU toxicities, and provides urinary, bowel, and sexual quality-of-life improvement: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34029607/

For localized disease and with success rates being statistically equivalent, the decision about which treatment to use (external radiation vs surgery) often hinges on what side/after-effects you’re willing to deal with.
As usual, discuss all this with your medical team.

Good luck to you! My Mayo experience began by calling their main number and asking for urology. I was scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Despradel and during that meeting he suggested I see his partner, Dr. Jack Andrews (the son), who performed my surgery in September, 2025 (about 9 months after the original contact). It seemed to go well. I had to keep the catheter in for 2 weeks as he felt by doing so, there would most likely not be any incontinence. There wasn’t! I have had excellent results so far. He is very personable and knowledgeable. I believe that no matter what you and your doctor decide to do, you will be in excellent hands at the Mayo here in Phoenix.

@brianjarvis Brian, ty for your reply. I did not have an MRI. We went straight to the biopsy. My PSMA PET scan is on Mon, Sep 14. Will have more insight once I have the results.

Ty for sharing the chart on recommended treatment. Appreciate your insights on SpaceOAR...

Cheers...

Mayoclinic.org. search locations Arizona and departments for phone number. Or doctors in that section. Good luck getting in to see someone. Call main number and see what they can schedule. AZ is very hard to get into.

@budisnothome Ty for your reply. I've already set up my account w Mayo AZ and once test results are in we move toward discussion to schedule.

Cheers

@gonzaler84, new members are not able to send private messages right away. It is a security measure to prevent bad actors from spamming the community 🙂 Naturally the value in an online community are the public group discussions because they not only help the people actively participating in them, but also the people reading them and learning from them. We all learn together.

You can submit a request for a specific physician. Who you will be assigned willl depend on multiple factors, including availability and specialty related to your specific diagnosis.