Hi, I have just been diagnosed with PC and the recommendation is active surveillance. Can any of you please share your experience of this v other treatments. It obviously avoids side effects but the worry is the cancer is still there.
Hello Rawp and welcome. Active surveillance wasn't an option for my husband but can be for men with low risk factors and by that I mean Gleason 6 3+3, confined to the prostate and no mention of things like cribriform in the pathology. Prostate cancer is normally slow growing but once you start to have some medium risk factors then the chances of progression increase. There are a couple of useful references for you to look at
From these you will see that you have time to ask all the questions and to make an informed choice. For many men the first instinct is to get it out with surgery but there are other options available which have less long term side effects such as Brachytherapy with or without radiotherapy or hormone therapy depending on the type of prostate cancer you have.
You will find advocates for all your options on this forum so you are going to need to make a list of all the possible side effects from each of the options and then decide which ones you can live with both short and long term. Also this can affect both you and your partner so open, honest conversations are needed.
A final link is the NICE guidelines which quantify some of the side effects, particularly box 2.
I was on AS for 4 years and it went ok but U do have to keep checking PSA and yearly MRI.
Before going on AS u need to make sure PSA not too high and MRI doesn't show any large tumours getting near to the gland edge but then u would presume they have checked all that but still important that U know the figures.
I was diagnosed about 3 years ago and went on AS for 2 years.
During the meeting with the specialist nurse where I received my positive diagnosis I was advised that I was suitable for AS, HT+RT, or have it removed. One of the first things I was told was that some men are calm when they receive the positive diagnosis, but others can't stand the thought of having cancer and want the prostate removed immediately. I was happy to have blood tests every 3 months and a second MRI and biopsy (didn't find it too unpleasant) 2 years later.
Whatever treatment you have comes with a risk of potentially unpleasant side effects, and I was keen to put these off for as long as possible.
Hello Rawp, sorry to have you with us but welcome nonetheless, I was diagnosed with Gleason 3+4 and offered AS , RT or surgery and as it was all contained in the prostate I took surgeons leanings to surgery because radiotherapy is an option after if needed which it was 3 years later !! To be honest I would have liked more time to get all the feedback one could before making such a life changing experience such as surgery is .
Its not one size fits all on here and what you will get is a good broad explanation and advice with some great individuals on here particularly the ones who have gone through what you are feeling now. Take the time you need to make a level headed decision, I rushed mine to get the cancer out but wish I had explored this forum first. Good luck whatever your choice there is plenty of support on here.
