Photodynamic Therapy Experience

Hi Grant,

I'm sorry to hear of your recurrence, its something I'm dreading. I have no idea about PDT,  but my motto is 'New treatments are better than the old, otherwise why would they be bothering introducing them?'

Best of luck mate.

Adrian

Edited by member 13 Nov 2023 at 20:26  | Reason: Not specified

Grant

I noticed from your earlier posts that you have a Cribriform pattern of prostate cancer.  As this tends to want to march forward more, shouldn't your consideration be to take the surgery which at least will give you a 'tried and tested' outcome.  As they've offered you this, presumably your cancer is still contained within the capsule.  Surgery is, of course, more difficult following radiotherapy.

May I ask what your PSA has jumped to?

My husband had Cyberknife just a few months after you as part of the PACE trial and I think you met him at the prostate group meeting at Guy's.

Please let us know your decision.

I could have had pdt for skin cancer 14yrs ago.   They use a cream and expose it to certain light.  I believe the prostate one is similar but done via the bloodstream.    For skin cancer it's only used for early cases 'in situ'.

I sometimes regret that I took the doctors word that a graft would be the 'gold standard' and with pdt would almost certainly come back as other doctors have expressed surprise at the graft, although they haven't seen the details.  How effective the prostate treatment is I don't know but perhaps it's only being offered to low risk cases.

WebMD said in May 2022;

'Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment that uses special drugs activated by light to treat cancer. It's called a "focal therapy" because it focuses on cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. The idea behind PDT is to wipe out as much of the cancer as possible without causing a lot of side effects.

So far, photodynamic therapy is approved to treat some cancers of the skin, esophagus, and lungs. It's also a promising treatment for small, low-risk prostate cancers that aren't likely to spread outside the prostate gland.

Photodynamic therapy has a few advantages over current treatments for early-stage prostate cancer. Some men don't want to wait through active surveillance, which closely monitors but doesn't treat the cancer. Others worry about the sexual and urinary side effects that surgery and radiation can cause.

PTD might one day be an alternative to these treatments. But for now, it's still considered experimental.'

Hi Vicky,

‘Why not have surgery’ is a good question to ask. I was offered surgery prior to the Cyberknife treatment, the consequences and possible attendant side-effects did concern me. I was living alone at the time (still am), decided I didn’t want to undergo recovery alone. I was also concerned about ED, incontinence and supporting myself whilst off work. Today the same set of circumstances apply, I know that surgery after RT is even more difficult and it’s possible if the PDT doesn’t work I am uncertain as to what salvage treatment is possible next. The cancer is contained within the prostate and though it is more rapidly growing than previous, consultants are not suggesting I need urgent treatment. My next phone consultation is next week, so I expect to learn more about whether they have the critical mass for the trial to go ahead as planned in March.

The PSA rise after treatment is only significant when compared with previous results. I was initially 10.4 prior to treatment, 12 months after 0.76, 18 months later 0.37, 30 months after 1.28 and most recently 1.83. The marker is the doubling rate.

Grant