As mentioned in another thread, a scan has shown that although my prostate bed is clear, PCa has shown up in a lymph node, "Where the main body artery meets the leg artery". The urologist is dis-inclined to operate as "It would be hard to find and no guarantee that the correct one would be removed"
I have been referred to an oncologist who seems to specialise in Radiotherapy to see if RT would work or even be possible given that I've had previous prostate RT.
If I am going down the RT path, the machines at the hospital are fairly standard.
So my question is, and obviously I'm not chasing expert opinion but rather the experiences of others- what other options are open for me (I guess we can rule out Proton Beam Therapy http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)?
For example: Any other techniques or more sophisticated equipment for treatment that anyone has had/knows of?
Thanks,
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
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Dashing out but just to say that my father in law refused RT or HT because he was worried about the side effects. They removed his suspect nodes surgically and then gave him chemo.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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Hi Dave,
I am not able to say whether Proton Beam would be a possibility to treat your node or even Nanoknife but please ask your Oncologist and post his opinion. Unfortunately, I understand that at present neither of these treatments is currently available in the UK (now that UCLH have ended their trial of Nanoknife), so either of these treatments would require going abroad. I am very interested to learn what radiation, if any, you will be offered as I have a very suspicious node for which it is proposed I will be given HT and would consider some form of RT for this as an alternative. A small amount of cancer was found in my Prostate and the plan is to treat this with HIFU as a salvage treatment.
Barry |
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Hi Dave,
I am not able to say whether Proton Beam would be a possibility to treat your node or even Nanoknife but please ask your Oncologist and post his opinion. Unfortunately, I understand that at present neither of these treatments is currently available in the UK (now that UCLH have ended their trial of Nanoknife), so either of these treatments would require going abroad. I am very interested to learn what radiation, if any, you will be offered as I have a very suspicious node for which it is proposed I will be given HT and would consider some form of RT for this as an alternative. A small amount of cancer was found in my Prostate and the plan is to treat this with HIFU as a salvage treatment.
Barry |
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Hi Barry,
Thanks for that.
I have a slight concern that my next trip to the cancer centre will be like my previous first trip - a done deal where I was expecting some discussion of treatment options but was pretty well handed a bag of enemas and told my salvage RT plan. Of course it's perfectly feasible to decide on my treatment without needing my presence but with hindsight, I feel that I would like the opportunity to explore other options, if only in order to eliminate them.
I wasn't serious about the Proton therapy - I've recently watched a medical program on the Japanese (NHK) World Service. Apparently the machines are made by Hitachi and when first developed took up the size of a quarter of a football pitch. That's been significantly reduced but it seems that you still need a lot of space. I think they mentioned that at the time of the programme, eight of the machines had been exported to the US. The Japanese have installed one which caters both to Japanese and to foreigners but I got the impression that the foreigners are typically Chinese billionaire oligarchs.
I also saw somewhere that the UK NHS is planning to buy two of the machines, one for Manchester and one for the south but it will be a good few years before these become operational.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
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Dashing out but just to say that my father in law refused RT or HT because he was worried about the side effects. They removed his suspect nodes surgically and then gave him chemo.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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User
Dave and Lyn,
Interested in your comments. Yes the 2 Proton Beam centres for the UK are not expected to be in operation until 2018. The initial use is likely to concentrate on very critical areas such as cancers of the head where it is essential to minimise collateral damage which Proton Beam does much better than Photons. Mainly young people have been sent to the USA for this treatment at considerable cost. Ashya King, whose parents took him to Prague for Proton Beam treatment for Brain cancer has just returned to the UK with no sign of cancer, (thankfully). Whether Proton Beam would be a much better treatment for PCa in general and a Lymph Node only it is not well established.
I did ask a consultant at UCLH about surgically removing my very suspicious Node and he said it would require Robotic Surgery as for a Prostatectomy and advised against it but I will look into this further as well as treating it with RT. Both of these possibilities I believe offer a better chance of eradicating any cancer there than just HT which generally I understand to be more of a restraining procedure. Different cases may require different solutions and PCa only found in a Node after main treatment is not something that is widely commented on.
Barry |
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I think I have posted this here before - it was not an easy option in the end. Open surgery, 4 days in hospital, drain and catheter so in many ways he might as well have had the RP. The difference of course was that they went nowhere near his nerve bundles so erections were not affected
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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Hi Barry,
Yes, I would be disappointed were I only to be offered HT, I/they might just as well have stuck with the pre-scan view of 'It (the PSA) could be coming from anywhere' and treated it with HT accordingly.
I don't fancy going through another operation but I wouldn't discount it, were it to be thought beneficial. The urologist referred in passing, to early chemotherapy being promoted nowadays so that might still be on the table.
I'll have to see what gets pulled out of the hat next week.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |