So.....Salvage Radiotherapy

Welcome back! No, sorry you are here sounds more appropriate.

Short answer to your question; SRT is the same as RT. Slightly longer answer is that it depend.

A slowly rising PSA from a low value post RP suggests a small number of cells in the prostate bed. Ideally you will get some scans done, but at low PSA levels they may not show anything, and you may decide to just shoot blind, or wait until the scan shows a definite target. The oncologist is the best person to make that decision.

Usually RT is 37 fractions, but this has been reduced lately. As most of the cancer has been removed, it may be only a small number of fractions for you OH, as few as five. HT is usually two years, but with SRT it may not be required at all or could be just 6 months.

So the long answer is SRT is more or less the same as RT, but will probably be a little less intense.

Getting booked in for some scans is hopefully the next move.

J, I had salvage RT in 2017 , three years after surgery. I had 66 gys over 33 sessions, mine took just over seven weeks due to a glut of bank holiday. I didn't have HT with my SRT.

There is some information on this site,if you can find it.

Thanks Chris 

Edited by member 24 Nov 2023 at 18:00  | Reason: Spelling

Are they the only psa tests he's had?.  I had one at 7 weeks and then 3 monthly for a year.  The psa trend gives interesting information.  If it was <0.025 it would be better than 0.025 for example.  Although many hospitals don't measure below 0.1 so 0.025 is still a decent result.  To be referred at 0.05.is way ahead of those at a 0.1 hospital. I'd regard it as good care and it will be interesting to know if they offer RT without a scan, as it's unlikely to find such a small lesion. Some regard early RT as taking a chance while others would say it's a chance worth taking.  If it rises early they tend to take faster action. Good luck Peter

So a further PSA test done 2 months after the 0.051 one showed 0.07 so it is definitely rising and not just a blip.  He's now getting a PSMA-Pet scan which they have plenty of capacity for so should be soon. After that there's an appointment with the Consultant on 29th December and  then probably 20 sessions of RT and hormones depending on the results of the PSMA-Pet scan. I caught the fact they think there is a between 10 and 20% chance of mets,(presumably due to the fact that it is only just over a year since the op) something which the OH does not seemed to have picked up - I have noticed he only hears the good stuff - I only hear the bad. I haven't bothered him with it - he heard the "we're still looking to cure this" which is the good news. 

Edited by member 11 Dec 2023 at 23:19  | Reason: Not specified

And in an extreme show of being able to push things out of mind OH had genuinely forgotten about the appointment today for the results of the scan.

Jocasta,if I go back a couple of years, my treatment plan was to wait until the PSA got to something between 2 and 10 then go onto HT, probably for life. Attitudes to treatments are changing. Following a PSMA scan I was given SABR treatment to a single lymph node tumor, a few months later another PSMA scan found a second tumor in a different lymph node and I had more SABR treatment along with some bicalutamide. I will know how successful it has been in a couple of weeks. 

I will keep on having curable intent treatment as long as it is in offer. What is your alternative option ?

Thanks Chris 

So Colwick how was your treatment? OH is in the middle of SABR and finding it really easy. Has had 2 sessions and one to go. So far no side effects and the steroids they have given him (presumably for a bit of a boost) means he is doing jobs that have been hanging around for ages as he is feeling so fit!