Dad cant have any treatment

Hello Katie,

Sorry you join us because your father has PCa. It is bad enough to be diagnosed with this disease but in his case is compounded by an inadequate diagnosis and then being told he can't have treatment that he was previously told he could have. I would have thought that his other health problems would have been known about previously before he was told he could have treatment. Is it certain that he can't at least have HT? PSA tests only monitor the advance of PCa and athough not completely reliable, used regularly over time does give an indication of how the cancer is developing.

In his situation, I would want to know why I was not being given the scan; was it because this was a problem in itself or because a very high PSA and worse than expected biopsy indicated that the cancer was already well advanced and the MRI would not add anything much? I would also want confirmation that no treatment could be offered now whatsoever even with the risk of perhaps worse side effects or whether this would be reviewed as/if the cancer further advanced. On the other hand he may just want to accept what he is told and do nothing.

Hi Katie,
it sounds like when your dad was diagnosed 2 years ago he opted for active surveillance rather than treatment, possibly because of his other medical problems. That surveillance has now alerted the doctors that his cancer is progressing which just goes to show that active surveillance does what it says on the tin.

It seems that now the different doctors (probably this was a multi-disciplinary team with a urologist, an oncologist and another doctor or nurse specilaist) have advised dad to continue with the active surveillance for the time being. What is important about AS is that it should include regular PSA tests, a finger up the bum at least once a year to see if everything feels the same as before and a scan every year. Put in your diary now a reminder to check that dad gets another scan next October / November.

If his PSA rose very quickly or he started to have more side effects from the cancer, they might do a scan more often than once a year.

Edited by member 25 Nov 2015 at 00:42  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Katie,

Sorry I misread the bit about having the scan and am obliged to Lyn for pointing this out, otherwise the rest stands. Good that you are checking his situation.

Edited by member 25 Nov 2015 at 10:52  | Reason: Not specified