How to chose between surgery and radiotherapy

Hi I'm GB and just wanted to say read all you can manage about the options because the time you spend on here reading of others experiences is valuable information for your journey,  the truth is there's no one path fits all it's a personal choice but with plenty of support and advice.  Read my profile on my journey so far . Good luck on the road ahead. 

As long as u didn't have any bowel or urinary issues before diagnosis then you should come out of the Radiotherapy relatively unscathed

Surgery side effects can include ED and urinary issues.

These issues sometimes go away over time and not everyone has them.  

One good thing about surgery is that u can have Radiotherapy afterwards if the surgery didn't work but not the other way round .

Armed with that knowledge I still went with Radiotherapy.

Best wishes

Steve

Read up on the side-effects of both routes - short term and long term. People often only  look at the short term effects, because with a new diagnosis it's hard to envisage the long term.

With a stage 2 tumour (I'm assuming T2N0M0), both choices are curative, and both are (pretty much) equally effective.

Try not to let an 'instinctive' preference for, or aversion to surgery dominate your thoughts, but if all else is equal, go with your gut!

It's also well worth reading the 'toolkit' for general advice.

Many thanks for your reply.  I recognise that ultimately it’s down to individual choice.  Clearly I’ve got a lot more reading to do.

I had the da Vinci in February 2017. ED issues but little blue pills assist. Plus I think the nerves might be growing back. A sympathetic partner is a big help. Hardly any incontinence. Get all the information you can and then discuss it all with your partner. You should both be happy with whatever route you decide to take.

I've elected to have radiotherapy but I wasn't informed you can't  have surgery afterwards if it doesn't work...mmm..

It often does work, though.

And over the long term (15 years plus), the survival rate is pretty much the same as for those who started with surgery.

There are risks with both choices, and different ways of dealing with the problems, but both are pretty successful. It's the side effects where the main differences lie.

It’s the side effect issue which is confusing me. Having had a lengthy chat with a specialist nurse I was told that, around two years post treatment, the ED position in most patients is broadly the same.

The reason, she told me, was that with surgery the position generally is initially worse but improves, whilst with radiotherapy ED has a tendency to worsen over time.

If that’s the case then my choice is fairly simple. As a 54 year old recently diagnosed with T2b PCa, 3+4 N0, my likely choice is to have robotic surgery.

Life is full of tough decisions and this has proved my hardest yet, but the wealth of information out there certainly helps.

I haven’t been informed you cannot have surgery after Radiotherapy if it didn't work. I am wondering why not

Hi P. 

It can be done but it's a lot more difficult and u would have to find someone with experience in that situation.

The reason is because after RT the gland turns to a kind of mush, scar tissue etc.

Regards

Steve