Survival Rates By Cancer Stage

I would add it also depends on the type of prostate cancer you may have. For example, do you have BRAC1 or BRAC2, or some other genetic marking. Did you start with adenocarcinoma, small cell, basal cell, or neuroendocrine. Some doctors now believe that at the time you are diagnosed you have a mix of prostate cancer cell types. And that micro mutations of those cells can sit around and fester over time and then emerge later because those cells were resistant to treatment all along. This is why doctors now believe in hitting the cancer hard up front with triplet therapy. The idea is to kill as many micro metastases as possible. Cancer cells are kills with radiation and or chemotherapy. ADT and the 2nd generation drugs like Xtandi, Darolutamide, Apalutamide stop cancer cells at the cellular level. Both starve cancer cells of testosterone. But some of cells can go dormant and rise up later. The good news is that all cancer cells must die. They do not die on schedule but they do die. My strategy was kill as much cancer as possible up front - hopefully leaving nothing to come back. But everyone is different and can only handle what they can handle. Some people are afraid of radiation and chemo so they settle for just ADT or one of the other drugs. I wanted to carpet bomb the cancer. I wanted to kill as many cells without killing myself for the greatest outcome. It was hard but the Lord got me through it.

No doctor can tell you your expected outcome. Some cancer just give up and become indolent and others mutate into something more aggressive. They do not know. But, we have lots of treatment options to extend our lives Thank God.

I also like the idea of throwing the kitchen sink at it early on if you're dealing with locally advanced disease or worse. I had BCR after RP so have hit some nodes that showed mild uptake with 38 fractions of IG/EBRT followed by 2+ years of Orgovyx + abiraterone. My MOs weren't ready to pull the chemo lever for triplet therapy yet based on the results that were recently reporting out of one of the arms of the STAMPEDE trial for the treatment protocol I'm on. They're predicting 75% chance of no BCR at 10 years, which sounds optimistic to me but they're pulling it from one of the premiere clinical trial platforms out there. That would put me at 77 y/o. If I could get those years in relatively good health, put me down for it!

I told my doctor I wanted curative treatment not palliative when I was first diagnosed. Regardless, of my position, I still received the standard of care. But, I received (so called) palliative radiation treatment to my spin and ribs because I had such terrible bone pain at the start. Well, I read that most palliative radiation treatment cycles require only 1 to 2 treatments. I got 10 to the spin and the radiologist messed up and because I was supposed to radiation to my ribs at the same time. So, after finally getting insurance to agree and an apology, I went back and had 5 additional radiation treatments to my ribs. I read in some cases up to 10 palliative radiation treatments can significantly shrink and kill the prostate cancer tumors. You factor in the overlap of radiation to the ribs and I think it successfully killed most of the cancer. So, in a way I received curative radiation treatment. I bolstered the radiation with 10 chemo cycles in hopes to just kill all micro metastases. So, depending on our strength and ability to endure treatments it is possible to get more of a curative approach. Where that fails is when I ask for additional treatment to (clean up) any lingering micro metastases. Doctor said "No". Said there is no efficacy which means they cannot prove it medically helps. To be clear, I wanted just 1 round of radium 223 to clean up any lingering micro metastases that may have been left behind in my bones (if any). But, insurance will not cover Radium 223 unless you are Castrate Resistant and fail other treatments first.

So, if upfront treatment is what is needed to increase overall survival, then why not just try and kill it all up front and maximize overall survival and delay Castrate Resistance? But that is me.

I think at some point we may be able to have more choices in the Castrate Sensitive stages to ensure longer Overall Survival. It appears that many Castrate Resistance treatments are being shifted to Castrate Sensitive (i.e., Darolutamide and Xandi).

I will leave with this bit of information my wife recently shared with me regarding Overall Survival. The reason the data has not really changes much regarding overall survival rates for stage 4 prostate cancer is that we are living much longer and it may take a decade to collect enough information to change those stats. That is good news.

I believe with triplet therapy men are staying Castrate Sensitive much longer (keep in mind that some men do not become Resistant) and there is a higher percentage of men living with this disease past the 10 year mark.

So, nobody can give you a clear answer because we are all different and they really do not have all the updated data at this point. I wake every morning and the first words out of my mouth are "Thank you Lord for one more day, thank you for this day". I go to bed every night and the first words out of my mouth before falling asleep are "Thank you Lord for one more day, thank you for this day".

Excellent Yes I had to finish Xtandi before the govt would pay for Xofigio or radium 233 whci is only if mets is in the bones In 202 they radiate a 3cm spot on my L2 lumbar and I wa sclear Had I had radium then I would be better today I feel
I get my 3rd injection on 27th I get Xgeva as well as Zolodex Oncologist wanted me to do Chemo but head of Oncology at PMH said No he qualifies for radium223
I take 600 calcium + d daily as Xgeva demands

Pray daily Precious blood of Jesus please heal me

What has been your PSA response? What was your PSA before starting Radium 223 and after 2 treatments has your PSA improved?

Jan 23 PSA up to 9.8 Then Xtandi down to 1.7 Then in Dec PSA back up to 3, then 6 then 9 again

Since Radium it went to 14. Just yesterday after 2 injections its up to 16 Maybe slowing down
Oncologist said it will go up and then down

If not may do a bone scan earlier than planned July

Keep us informed please. God Bless you.

When I go searching survival rates I know I am thinking miracle. Thank you for this post, its thought provoking. My survival is teaching me to celebrate my-self , your-self everyday.