American Horror Story II

[gusgold]

I did further investigation and here is what I found:

In the American Horror Story post I recounted the experience of Chuck. Chuck was doing well on ADT but decided to have the Choline 11 Pet Scan. It was determined that Chuck had Oligometastatic PCa with Retroperitoneal Lymph Node involvement. Surgery was deemed to dangerous so he had IMRT. The decision to go with IMRT was probably right...But here is an interesting fact...At the time The Mayo Clinic did not offer Proton Beam but had 2 Proton Beam facilities under construction.

Here is what Dr. Snuffy Myers says: IMRT to the Retroperitoneal Lymph Nodes delivers far more harm than benefit, as it causes very severe damage to the immune system. It seems the levels of CD4 Cells, the T Cells that are key in cancer immunology fall dramatically.

Dr. Myers says that HIV becomes AIDS when CD4 Cells fall below 200. Dr. Myers had patients where IMRT to the Retroperitoneal Lymph Nodes brought the CD4 levels to 50. He also had patients who had Proton Beam to the RLN with no side effects.

Chucks PSA fell to <.1 but the cancer came back super aggressive with a 30 day doubling time and a PSA over 6000.

Is there a connection...draw your own conclusions.

Gus

[patandemma]

patandemma+@gusgold

Did his CD4 count drop to abnormal levels as Dr Myers was warning?

Perhaps he did not have an actual CD4 count done after his IMRT but knowing his absolute lymphocyte count (included as part of a routine CBC) could give a clue since CD4 cells are lymphocytes. It would be unusual to have a low CD4 count with a normal absolute lymphocyte count and vice versa

[pjoshea13]

For those interested in what Myers had to say (Dec 2014):

askdrmyers.wordpress.com/20...

There are references to "patient advocates" & I think he is referring to Chuck Maack.

The original vblog post was on Nov 13, 2014:

askdrmyers.wordpress.com/pa...

where he seems to publically criticise Dr. Dattoli. (The video isn't playing for me, so I'm going from memory.)

In Feb 2012, they were still friends:

dattoli.com/wp-content/uplo...

Dattoli was pretty upset with Myers. Below is his response posted by someone in 2014.

-Patrick

>>> I have recently viewed a video from a prominent Oncologist,

>>> entitled “Treating Ogliometastatic Prostate Cancer.” I

>>> found this presenting Oncologist to be woefully mistaken

>>> about numerous issues. Following are my comments that I

>>> believe to be pertinent in view of the misinformation

>>> promulgated in the video blog.

...

>>> Bottom line: this physician is not a Radiation Oncologist

>>> and clearly doesn't know the radiation literature as is the

>>> case with any seasoned Radiation Oncologist . If he did know

>>> the radiation literature, he would never state that the

>>> current treatment is unprecedented and requires more

>>> research and clinical trials. Such studies have been

>>> performed diligently, using methods of randomized controlled

>>> studies (“Clinical Trials/ Evidence Based Data”) along

>>> with thousands of prospective and retrospective studies,

>>> over decades, and published repeatedly in all of the

>>> radiation oncology and oncology peer-reviewed journals, as

>>> well as prestigious journals such as JAMA, Lancet, New

>>> England Journal of Medicine, etc. He should have listened

>>> even more closely to a recent lecture I have given as this

>>> topic and many of these studies were showcased. This doctor

>>> has gone so far as to state that smokers develop lung cancer

>>> as a result of radiation to the abdominal and pelvic

>>> regions! This again demonstrates the illogical assertions

>>> that have made regarding radiation and HIV sequalae (and

>>> this doctor’s general lack of understanding of radiation

>>> in all of its manifestations).

>>>

>>> We are aware that radiation can cause secondary

>>> malignancies, but only at a very slightly higher rate than

>>> the population at large (except for Protons which scatter a

>>> large amount of Neutrons). In most of the reported cases of

>>> secondary malignancies, it has been in the context of

>>> combined radiation and chemotherapy. In view of this, the

>>> benefits of radiation far outweigh the very small risk of

>>> developing secondary malignancies. I believe this doctor’s

>>> motives and assertions must be considered extremely suspect

>>> at this time, and shouldn’t be used to frighten

>>> prospective patients, patients currently undergoing

>>> radiation treatment and the millions of survivors who have

>>> been successfully treated with radiation.

>>> Michael Dattoli, MD

__._,_.___

[BigRich in reply to pjoshea13]

Patrick, " Other commercially available and popular external beam radiation modalities including, but not limited to, Protons,

Cyberknife and Stereotactic Body Radiation (SBRT) are available for precise dose delivery. None of these,

however, can be utilized for nodal irradiation since most of the aforementioned tracking 4D technologies cannot

be used with these modalities."

Being this article was February, 2012 is the above still true?

Rich