Aged 66, I have recently been diagnosed with early stage Prostate Cancer, T2a with a Gleason score of 3+4. PSA 14.4. I have been offered either surgery to remove or radiotherapy with hormone treatment. This is quite a dilemma. I met with the surgeon a couple of weeks ago and have an Oncology consultation today.
I have reached out to friends/relatives who have experience of PCa and have drawn up a list of Pros and Cons for both treatments having also read up as much as possible.
Has anyone on here had the option of either treatment and, if so, what influenced your decision?
I was offered the same treatments and decided in the end to go for Radiotherapy because of the potential lasting side effects of surgery and of course it's a major operation
I should just add not everyone has lasting side effects.
This one I can't support in the same way. Of the 3 people I know who have had the surgery, 2 of them have had to have salvage radiotherapy within 12 months. This is not a good statistical sample and anecdotal evidence always needs to be treated with caution. It is, however, something to have in the back of your mind in that surgery can have complications to watch out for.
Whichever choice you make, I wish you very well indeed.
Hi silver fox I was diagnosed Gleason 3+4 less than 10% pattern 4. Psa 19. I was given the same options as yourself. I opted for surgery as I wanted it out so to speak and had the back up of radiotherapy in the future My op was aug20 last year ( it’s a date etched in my mind ) I’ve been really lucky as I had bi lateral nerve sparing ralp After my TWOC I’ve been fully continent and had never needed pads etc. Obviously I wasn’t looking forward to the op but in hindsight I’m glad I went down this route but I must stress this is my opinion only. At my post op histology meeting I was told my tumour had started to invade my bladder neck which would only have been picked up after removal. I am now 9 months and recently had another undectable psa result On the ed front things are improving. I have spoken to lots of people ( I attend a support group ) and I know I’m in a small percentage of people who never experience being fully continent immediately after surgery. If you want any more info about surgery I’ll be happy to help. At my oconolg
