Results from prostate mri and bone scan

Generally you get at least 6 months of RT before starting RT I only had 3 x 3 month injections but others carry on with HT for 2 or even 3 years post radiotherapy.  I had my last HT injection about 2 weeks before I started RT.  It all depends on what your consultant normally does.  Most people who have radiotherapy do drive themselves to their RT appointments I did every day and drove us home and back at weekends - though I did of course have my wife to help if necessary but I enjoy driving.  I really found no side effects from the RT at all.  Some people have urinary and bowel problems at some stage around about the half way mark.  Considering I have a weak bladder I only had one night where I was up over 10 times to urinate. Thanks for the vote for grumpy Yorkshire men!

For me I was told that this course of treatment would likely be a cure.  Nearly 3 years out and it looks as though they may have been right but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Take care,

Des

Hi everyone,

I’m Bill, one of the Macmillan information nurses. I hope you don’t mind me popping on here, I noticed this discussion and thought it best to offer you some clarification about the possibility of cancer coming back after treatment.

The first thing to say is that no treatment carries a 100% guarantee – and I can appreciate that you grasp this already.

If comparing two or more treatments doctors will consider side-effects which can affect someone’s quality of life. It can be a bit like comparing apples with oranges but the possible  side-effects of hormone therapy  and radiotherapy, both short term and long term , aren’t necessarily an “easy option” compared to side-effects of surgery.

When medical researchers talk about treatments and compare them they don’t talk about “success” or “failure”. What they look at is “disease free survival” and this survival can be measured over 5 or 10 years or even longer. Even with a recurrence of prostate cancer men can still go on living with a reasonable quality of life for years. Other statistical terms which you may come across if you are doing background reading are mortality and survival rate.

Making a choice can be extremely difficult. Even when looking at research findings we don’t always get a black-and-white answer. A recent study compared surgery with radiotherapy. It found that there was a difference in 5-year survival of 0.7% between men treated with surgery (99.5%) and those treated with radiotherapy (98.8%).

Although scientists would say that this difference is “significant” they’re using the word in the way statisticians do – it’s not due to chance. They’re not using it in the everyday sense we do in conversation as being “important”. The significance may be even less because not all of the men were also receiving hormone therapy.

I can see that you’ve had some helpful responses from members of this group, I hope you find comfort in talking through your situation with them.

I would like to take the opportunity to share some information gained from a study, that the survival rate for both was considerably higher than 70%.

Some research papers seem to contradict others, but new studies are being done all the time. Your husband’s consultant may be able to help him to make a decision, not so much by quoting papers which can seem contradictory, but by using a tool called “Predict Prostate”. If you look at this tool you’ll notice that all sorts of factors can be added in to try to make a more “tailor made” assessment for each individual man. It’s important to remember that this gives a general guide to what the risks and benefits of treatment could be but can’t predict them with total accuracy.

I hope that this helps to make things a bit clearer and that you continue to get support and strength from the community.

If you’d like to ask any questions about your husband’s treatment then remember that you can always post them in our “Ask An Expert” section or to speak to an experienced, understanding nurse you can call free on our support line any day between 8am and 8pm.

Best wishes,

Bill (Cancer Information Nurse)

Thanks for the interesting info Bill, I found the Predict Prostate an interesting tool to use. I didn't know that survival rates were that high, there is hope for me yet. 

I presume that the 98/99% survival rates are for a low grade/Gleeson tumour with no mets.

Regards

Steve

Thankyou for your reply  I didn't think you would be fit after rt so I've learned another thing tonight  I feel I can talk about facts after reading replies so thanks to all and 4 weeks to decide 

Wow that was an interesting and informed reply  where do you find predict prostate  I just can't understand why consultant didn't give all this info and not a word that if he chooses radiotherapy he can't ever go back have surgery  so I'll try find all this info before we go back as my husband asks nothing and would never join group for advice the consultant says he prefers to converse with patient which I understand but he just refuses to get involved in his own treatment which can be stressful  I may try ask an expert Thankyou so much 

Bar

It's not impossible to perform surgery after RT, just a lot more difficult and not all surgeons would do it.

Even though there is this problem of surgery after RT a lot of people still go for the RT first with the knowledge that it may well preclude them from surgery in the future and that includes me.  Obviously some people can't have the surgery anyway because of some other medical condition.

Steve

No it is not impossible to have surgery post radiotherapy.  My consultant is one of the few surgeons offering this and has said I am a candidate should my PSA rise above 2 post radiotherapy.  Nearly 3 years post radiotherapy and my PSA is well under 1.  Operating for me could have given me more problems than it solved and then possibly having radiotherapy post operation would have been as bad so that is why radiotherapy first and hoping that it has cured me but operation available if necessary later.  I am sure it will not be easy should this come to pass and I will have all the problems I tried to avoid first time around  (and of course I will be much older) but it will mean that I will have had x number of good years without any problems with bowel and bladder.

All the best

Des

I carried on going to the gym 3/4 times a week during my treatment went walking and swimming out shopping and meeting up with friends, going to the theatre and cinema and caIrried on pretty much as normal all the way through treatment - if anything a fuller life as we lived in the city and had a whale of a time goign around sight seeing and going to events, exhibitions etc.  I know a few men who have carried on working part time having just the morning or afternoon off to have the radiotherapy.  Obviously they lived in the same town as the cancer centre.  My cancer centre also carried out treatments until 8 and 9 at night so it was possible for some to carry on working full time - this was especially useful for one man I met who ran his own business - he was a chiropractor and lived quite a way from the cancer centre so it must have been tiring - but then again he was a lot younger but got to say it must have been tiring for him - not something I would like to do, part time working yes but full time and then travelling to the cancer centre would be a little too much for me.