Hormone therapy

Good Morning Ann (Ann33) 

A warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Prostate Community - although I am so sorry to find you here.

After the surgery, your OH has been regraded to T3B as it looks like the cancer had spread to the Seminal Vesicles before the Prostate was removed. The treatment being given is with a view to cure so:

* The Hormone Therapy will reduce his testosterone and the remaining cancer cells won't be able to "feed".

* The radiotherapy will kill off the cancer cells in the area being targeted (along with some good cells).

* The continued Hormone Therapy will ensure that any cancer cells that have escaped the attention of the Radiotherapy will be supressed and will not survive.

Don't forget I am not medically trained and this is my assumption from what I know. Also not everyone on Hormone Therapy gets all the side effects.

It may be that you should pose your question to one of our specialist cancer nurses and here's a link to enable you to do this.

Ask a Nurse  (please give them a couple of days to get back to you).

I do hope the above helps.

Best wishes - Brian.

Good morning Ann Ann33 and a warm welcome from a wife. The good news is that your husband is still being treated with curative intent, but also that he is being offered treatment in line with the restaged cancer which was found after the histology of the prostate. The radiotherapy kills off the cancer by breaking the genetic chains so that they cannot multiply but the cancer cells take a long time to get flushed out of the body by the lymphatic system -18+ months. There is also a risk that as the cancer has already spread to the seminal vesicles then there is a chance that it has also floating around the body or seeded to other parts which were not targeted by the salvage radiotherapy so the hormone therapy has been added to make sure that they are weakened and kept in hibernation. For men with higher risk prostate cancer then there is a lot of evidence which shows that there are better outcomes with the combined strategy of RT/HT in terms of percentage of men who show subsequent recurrence compared to those who have radiotherapy only. The length of time on the hormone therapy is still under debate but generally the higher the risk the longer the time.

Thank you for your reply

Spread was to one SV apex area, the upgrade was a surprise to both surgeon & Us so on seeing Oncologist we didn't ask  ot question the treatment.It seems impossible to speak again with oncology hence using this forum.

Your reply has been helpful .

Most helpful thank you for your response X

Thank you too for your help and information.

Sorry It appears I thanked Alwayshope twice by mistake.

I really do appreciate this forum and the help and reassurance it provides.

Wishing all a Happy  Christmas and a Better New Year!

Hello Ann (Ann33) 

Don't worry - we don't do it for the thanks - we do it because we care!

Best wishes - Brian.

Good morning Ann.

I hope that we all work as a team and the best result is that we have helped each other understand what is going on and how to best navigate what has been thrown at us with this cancer diagnosis. Some of us stick around on the forum but the real success and greatest thanks is when the cancer is knocked into submission and you can go back to living a full and long life.

Good Morning

Not having to go for treatment this morning (it's the weekend)  Yeah I've had time to read again responses to my questions regarding Hormone Treatment. 

Little bit worried reading that any possible escaped cancer cells not in the RT treatment area could be in hibernation although weakened, does that mean they could be ready and waiting to reamerge at a later time as a reoccurrence or am I blowing things up in my head.

Sorry finding it hard to deal with all the uncertainties but trying to understand the workings of the enemy at large.X

Yes that is always a possibility but the hormone therapy reduces the likelihood and pushes the time to recurrence further down the line if it is going to happen. The good news is that the PSA after treatment is a very good monitor of what is going on and there are well established thresholds which means that it would be dealt with, just make sure that he has regular tests. Your partner has had belt and braces treatment which has given him the best chance to now see the back of his cancer and is successful in the majority of cases. 

His 1st PSA Following Prostatectomy was 0.06 then 2nd 0.09 (done at  a different testing centre) then 3rd 5 weeks into Hormone therapy 0.01 so cant be sure how it would have gone without the HT hoping it stays low following RT treatment, only 2 more of 33 to go. Urologist has ordered  a PSa test to be done in late February only 10 weeks after end of RT for 2nd follow up maybe a little early so not sure if we can gauge anything on that.