6 Months Post Treatment Report

[Nerka]

8 months post treatment at present. Had six month review with RO. Decided on SBRT due to surgical, erectile and urinary issues with RP. Prior abdominal surgery means DiVinci machine could not be used, and few doctors do a lot of open procedures. Used SBRT on a MRL machine (MRI guided radiation treatment). The machine was only 4-5 months old so relatively new technology. Had Gay Radiation Oncologist who is awesome. 5 treatments. At 6 months my PSA had fallen from 10 to 3.5. Asked doc what he thought. He said if I was below 50% of original value at 6 months we are on target. No erectile issues. Urinary issues were there before. Haven't changed. On a more TMI note, ejaculation is still there, but color, amount, etc... changed quickly after radiation therapy. So far, glad I did SBRT.

On an interesting side note my brother did SBRT, also but his PSA went up at 3 months. Given that radiation pretty much always destroys prostate cells, this is very unusual. They checked for metastases but found none. Probably inflammation and/or some sort of infection. Since my bro almost died from biopsy, maybe residual infection. Watching and maybe another biopsy.

[Aodh]

Glad to hear the good results

Hugh

[tallguy86]

Glad to hear things are going well. for you! Was diagnosed in 2014 and finally had TX in 2020. My Pca was a slow-grow and my GS remained a 6. I had SBRT last July, 2020. No problems from RT. My PSA initially was 11.90. After TX in Aug 2020 my PSA was 7.55. Then in Jan 2021 was 3.25. It's my understanding it takes several years for the PSA to get below 0.5 ng/ml. Along the way there may be some bounces. Cancer cells are killed by radiation which alters the DNA by inserting a free radical. Cancer cells can't repair the damage so when they try to divide they hibernate and then die. The healthy prostate cells can repair some of the damage and produce some PSA. I still produce some semen but not much. I have great erections at age 73! And dry orgasms are super although a bit strange at times. A big thank you for Dr. Holgen Gieschen at the West Cancer Clinic in Memphis, TN. He and the team are stellar! Thanks to TallAllen (on this chatroom) who is a strong advocate and avid provider of information, research and statistics. Best of luck to you!