I would like to have responses as to the title above. The reason has to do with Dormant, or what some call Hibernating or Sleeping Pca cells. For when we are undetectable as to PSA we get a report that says < X---depending on your test. And you get a good to go thumbs up. Now this can go on for years. My MO reports one case of a man who was cancer free for 30 years and his Pca returned with a Vengeance. And yes he did die, from Pca.
Now were any of us cancer free when getting PSA tests, whether the standard, or the ultra sensitive test----> saying undetectable? Of course not. Our Tests and scans cannot detect that which is undetectable. Or another way of saying it our tests are not sensitive enough to detect down to the level of a single cancer cell. So when we have a Bio Chemical failure, you hear the terms: the cancer woke up, or my cancer is no longer dormant, or hibernating.
So then what were the bastards we cannot detect doing? I say they were fully alive and living a new kind of life, after having been assaulted, by our drugs and other procedures. I know 2 men: one went 13 years and one 20 years in remission, and died of Pca. How many died of something else before their cancer might have gone into bio chemical failure? If they lived long enough, would they have failed? I say probably, based on data collected so far in other places.
So I say that these cells we cannot detect, which may have changed form, or maybe not; have been always fully alive, and ingesting nutrition, and going thru their life cycle metabolism. We just cannot see them. I posted a paper 4 months ago on Dormancy, and questioning a way to kill these cells, we cannot see.
So while on summer sabbatical I was collecting Meta-Data on this subject, and would like to ask the group here----> only those who had at least 5 years of undetectable PSA and Scans and considered in Remission, what their status was/is based on the below factors:
We will call a remission as undetectable PSA and Scans
1] Gleason, staging, type pathology, castrate resistance ever yes/no, Mets yes/no,
2] Initial Primary Treatment, secondary if necessary, PSA upon DX
3] Time it took to get to long term undetectability
4] How many years in remission, still in remission yes/no
5] How many years to Bio Chemical Failure, Current new treatment
6] Ever after Failure, confirmed with Neuroendrocrine or Small Cell PSA
Appreciate in advance, I hate surveys on line. But I would hope some will be able to respond, as most on the HealthUnlocked Site have never obtained Long Term Remission. But I am finding, an inordinate amount of long term remissions that when they fail, certain molecular biological cell changes occur, that makes it difficult to catch up with, based on what treatment protocols we have today.
There is some evidence, both drug and supplement, that we might be able to keep the cells that are supposedly dormant while in remission from turning on their attention to dividing their nucleus, and dividing themselves into daughter cells and to start multiplying.
Thanks in advance for the info above.
Nalakrats
For undetectable PSA, can we add together post RP and time on ADT to get to the 5 year cutoff?
Any add ons I will leave up to individuals--I know what I am looking for.
Thanks
Nalakrats