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Radiotherapy cost

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User
Posted 25 May 2022 at 15:47

My husband has just been diagnosed with stage T3b Gleason 3+4.

He has been told that he will have either 2 or 3 hormone injections, with a gap of three months between each injection, meaning that potentially he will not receive radiotherapy 
until April 2023.  He will then have to travel daily to Oxford which is a round trip of around 70 miles.

I am trying to find out the cost of radiotherapy in a private hospital but cannot find an answer.  Can anyone help?

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 10:28
My NHS and Private Onco recommends Genesis. He says their kit is better than NHS (MRI guided during treatment) and he has never had significant side effects from their treatment. They also fetch you in a private ambulance so no driving worries.

Can anyone challenge what he has said with personal experience?

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 10:59

Genesis care and NHS share the machine at Oxford. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/66165Pmrlinac.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiz__y28Pz3AhW0lFwKHZU_BHIQFnoECCkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3Ejuj_qubbv-NnW0n3ohsu

The Christie in Manchester also have one. Whether patient outcomes are better with the MR linacs is as yet unknown. I have only had one MRI and I found it unpleasant (quite rare) so I would be reluctant to have an MRI every day for six weeks (but wouldn't point blank refuse). I certainly would be reluctant to pay £20k when I can get the same treatment free at point of delivery.

Dave

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 18:52
This combined scanner should give better results but has not been around for sufficiently long for this to be proven I believe.
Barry
User
Posted 31 May 2022 at 07:59
RT is generally given at regional specialist cancer centres, so it's common to have quite lengthy journeys. My treatment involved an 85-mile round trip. If you do have a long journey, my main advice is to know where you can stop for the loo en-route. By the end of treatment you'll need those stops! Fortunately there was a McDonald's with nice loos mid-day on my journey.

Chris

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User
Posted 25 May 2022 at 16:29

A work colleagues husband asked about paying for prostate RT and was told £18k. That was a few years ago. Not sure how the number of sessions affects the price.

Medical insurance companies will pay their customers to have RT done by the NHS.

Thanks Chris

User
Posted 25 May 2022 at 16:34

Well, for treatment on a private 'Top Gun' MR Linac machine, it's going to cost a bit more than £30k.

But unless there are technical reasons why your husband needs access to such a specialist bit of kit, it's worth checking why you want to go private. The reason for the Hormone  treatment before Radio Therapy is that it should begin to starve out the cancer cells (by restricting the production of testosterone), and thereby improve the effectiveness of the RT itself.  You will find lots of references on here to the benefits of trying to get PSA readings right down ( to about 1) before starting RT.

The desire to get treatment underway as soon as possible is understandable, but don't be overly frightened by what seems a long delay: once the hormones start to work, they make the cancer clock tick much more slowly. The HT needs to be seen as an integral part of the treatment.  For a variety of reasons, I have had a 2 year spell on  HT before finally starting my RT, and while I wouldn't recommend that , it's not the end of the world. 

User
Posted 25 May 2022 at 16:50
I had my RT done privately through my work medical insurance. The bill to the insurance company was £22k. To my mind it’s not worth it. The only thing different to the “public” RT at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (I was in the adjoining Clatterbridge Private Clinic) was that the waiting room had leather armchairs and I had my water brought to me on a tray in a crystal glass jug on a doily rather than having to get it in a paper cup from a water dispenser! The treatment machine was identical to the “public” ones and my oncologist was the same doctor I may well have been referred to on the NHS.

I’m sure you’ll find that RT will happen at the same time whether it’s NHS or private. It’s normal to be on HT for six months prior to the start of RT. The fact that that your husband has been told he might have 3x 3-monthly HT injections prior to RT doesn’t mean he’d wait the entire 3-month period of the third injection; you carry on with HT during and after the RT (a year after in my case).

Finally it’s worth noting that if you have private treatment in some areas there are significant issues in subsequently being transferred to NHS aftercare. I was fortunate; I decided to take early retirement after my RT and hence lost my work medical insurance, and my oncologist simply transferred me from his private list to his NHS list, but it’s not always that easy. We’ve had stories on this forum in the past of people effectively being left without follow-up care (which is essential) when stopping private treatment.

All the best,

Chris

User
Posted 25 May 2022 at 17:57
I think your maths is a bit out - if he has RT after 3 HT injections, it means his RT will probably start around November / December this year. That fits with the most common approach - 6 months of HT and then RT begins - although some oncos might prefer 9 months of HT first. The research shows that the longer he is on HT before they start the radiotherapy, the more likely it is to be successful.

They may be planning on an injection in June (presumably preceded by 2 weeks of bicalutimide tablets), followed by an injection in September and again in December. However, many men only have a 1 month injection the first time (in case of serious reaction) in which case it would be 2 weeks of bicalutimide, an injection in mid-June, another in mid July and then again in early to mid October.

Going private isn't going to gain you anything if your onco is proposing the treatment regime that gets the best results.

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

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 10:28
My NHS and Private Onco recommends Genesis. He says their kit is better than NHS (MRI guided during treatment) and he has never had significant side effects from their treatment. They also fetch you in a private ambulance so no driving worries.

Can anyone challenge what he has said with personal experience?

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 10:59

Genesis care and NHS share the machine at Oxford. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/66165Pmrlinac.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiz__y28Pz3AhW0lFwKHZU_BHIQFnoECCkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3Ejuj_qubbv-NnW0n3ohsu

The Christie in Manchester also have one. Whether patient outcomes are better with the MR linacs is as yet unknown. I have only had one MRI and I found it unpleasant (quite rare) so I would be reluctant to have an MRI every day for six weeks (but wouldn't point blank refuse). I certainly would be reluctant to pay £20k when I can get the same treatment free at point of delivery.

Dave

User
Posted 26 May 2022 at 18:52
This combined scanner should give better results but has not been around for sufficiently long for this to be proven I believe.
Barry
User
Posted 30 May 2022 at 21:29
Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated.
User
Posted 31 May 2022 at 07:59
RT is generally given at regional specialist cancer centres, so it's common to have quite lengthy journeys. My treatment involved an 85-mile round trip. If you do have a long journey, my main advice is to know where you can stop for the loo en-route. By the end of treatment you'll need those stops! Fortunately there was a McDonald's with nice loos mid-day on my journey.

Chris

 
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