chemo or radiation

[Chris52981]

my dad is on lynparza since September his recent scan showed some marginal changes in three areas but everything else is stable. Does that mean it’s not working or can it take longer, he has a somatic BRCa2 gene. He is handling it well and ALP decreased. Can radiation be helpful for the areas - or should he discontinue tx and do chemo. Would chemo help and would it be detrimental bc he is 82.

[Tall_Allen]

Chronological age is not a reason to avoid chemo -performance status is more important.

But if Lynparza is still working and he is tolerating it well, why not give it more time?

[Chris52981 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you for replying! Since he progressed in some areas does that mean it isn’t working or does it need more time . Can you give me more information on if it takes longer than two months to show improvement.

[Chris52981 in reply to Chris52981]

He will be getting an MRI next n Tuesday to see if he needs radiation on T spine

[Tall_Allen in reply to Chris52981]

If Lynparza is still working and he is tolerating it well, why not give it more time?

[Chris52981 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Just not sure how to define working since there was three areas that increased - that is why I wasn’t sure.

[Chris52981 in reply to Chris52981]

Plus he was only on it for two

Months but psa went up after first month since last exam - that is why I was curious how long it could take to work and show progress of working on psa and ct scan

[Tall_Allen in reply to Chris52981]

Maybe those three were not BRCA+

[Chris52981 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Oh ok true- so what would you typically do then with that? Radiate

[Tall_Allen in reply to Chris52981]

I prefer systemic treatments. Where there is 3 you can see, there's probably a lot more too small to see yet. That's why I think PARPi+ARPi did so well:

prostatecancer.news/2022/06...

[Chris52981]

yes he was on zytiga and xtandi - I wonder if they should zytiga back with lynparza - also is chemo more toxic to than lynparza does everyone have side effects with chemo?