PSA rising slightly every four months

Email this conversation Print this conversation

User

Posted 24 Jun 2015 at 20:36

After 7 years from a radical prostatectomy my psa is rising slightly and is now at 0.15 and my surgeon is suggesting radio therapy.

Anyone been in the same situation and did they go ahead and how were the side effects and was the outcome positive.

User

Posted 24 Jun 2015 at 23:08

Hi Commander,
Yes, there are many men on here that have been in your situation, including my husband - use the search box to look for 'salvage RT' to find others. Generally, chemical recurrence after the surgery is defined as a PSA of 0.2 or higher OR three successive rises but like your specialist, my husband's urologist felt that 0.15 was quite high enough to accept that further treatment was needed. That was three years ago and he has had undetectable PSA ever since so we are confident that it worked. My dad on the other hand has had a recurrence 13 years after the op - he is much older and has decided not to have any treatment on the basis that it is rising quite slowly and therefore it may be a long time before it causes him any discomfort.

I should think that most men in your position would go ahead with the treatment; the alternative is to accept that the cancer will continue to grow (wherever those errant cells are) and will eventually become incurable.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 24 Jun 2015 at 23:13

Did the specialist say whether you would be having 20 or 37 sessions of RT? Or something in between? Or will you find out all the details when you go to see the oncologist? Side effects can vary a lot from man to man but it also seems that the side effects are less if you have a higher dose for fewer sessions (called fractions)

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 25 Jun 2015 at 07:47

Good morning Commander Energy.

Can't help with your radiotherapy query but just wanted to say welcome.

Best Wishes
Sandra

We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails

User

Posted 26 Jun 2015 at 01:15

RT can sometimes kill off the cancer cells that surgery could not reach but this assumes these cells are still within the area RT can be effective. A friend of mine had HT+RT after rising PSA following surgery. It is now 8 years since salvage treatment and his PSA is negligible so has worked thus far. I say thus far because regardless of treatment some cells may have escaped and at some stage become active rather than dormant.

Barry

User

Posted 26 Jun 2015 at 20:49

Hi Commander

I was diagnosed last year and have had Hormone Therapy and Radiotherapy, the side effects in my case were mainly tiredness, and hot flushes from the hormone. My PSA has come down from 6.41 to 0.30 after 37 treatments .

Saw my oncologist a few weeks ago and all ok for six months.

Best of luck what ever you choose.

Keep positive

Alan

Email this conversation Print this conversation

Join the online community now.

Click through to become a member and gain access to support, information and real time replies.