Prostate cancer NOMO

Hi S and welcome 

There are two main points here regarding these two treatments. Both offer similar outcomes in terms of success rates 

So, Radiotherapy easiest although u may have to put up with some HT for a few months as well depending on your stats.

Main point with Radiotherapy is that if cancer returns then surgery not easy and may not be possible.

Surgery is the other way round , u can have prostate removed and if cancer returns u can still have Radiotherapy.

Main downside to surgery can potentially be ED and urinary issues but obviously not  everyone has them.

So time in your side, see what others say as well.

Best wishes 

Steve 

Thanks x

The clinical outcomes are almost identical post 5-10 years treatment. There may be other factors which could influence the decision one way or the other.

How fit and healthy are you to take on an operation. Surgery has many parts. What type of surgery? How experienced the surgeon? What is their past success rate? How much would the risks like ED be important to new.

RT how long would you be on HT. How you feel about reoccurrence and the options to treat that.

Do you need to make a decision right away? Or could you wait? 

Hello,

It would be helpful to know what your Gleason score is as this may give a different aspect, however I'm guessing that it's around 7 (3+4 or 4+3) as both options have been offered.  It's also possible that other treatments may be suitable even if they aren't available at your local hospital.

My best advice is to read up as much as you can about each option making sure you only use reliable sources such as Macmillan & Prostate Cancer UK, & make a list of pro's & con's.  You can then review these as to what is important to you & if you have a partner how these might affect them as well.  Each one of us is unique in what's important to us as individuals so what was the right choice for one person may not be for another.

I'm sure others will be along shortly with their thoughts, but if it helps at all, I chose HT / RT & you can read my journey by clicking on my profile name. 

Best Wishes

Brian

Hi.   I agree with previous posts.   It’s a decision only you can make.  I opted for surgery and am now nearly 5 months post op.   For me I’ve had minimal side effects , was continent straight away and am on the right side of ed effects.   Surgery is the only way you will know the actual extent of your tumour as after the op it is examined in detail.    I was Gleason 3+4 less 10 % pattern 4 but my post histology results found out I had bladder neck invasion.      Luckily through the skill of my surgeon I had negative margins and an undectable psa.  I also had bilateral nerve sparing which I believe has helped with my continence    It’s a hard decision and one which I think we all think will be made by our MDT team     Unfortunately it’s not and you will be back and forth until you get down to the nitty gritty of making a final choice.   You’re on the right forum though as there are many on here more knowledgeable than me.   Hope it goes well.    Cheers.   Simon 

God bless you thanks

many thanks

Hello shahramahroyan  Something else you may wish to consider is what type of radiotherapy your cancer centre will offer you.

Image-guided and intensity modulated (IGRT/IMRT) Tomotherapy allows the radiation to be adjusted before and during each fraction, which minimises damage to surrounding tissue. The more recent surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT) is similar and has real-time patient monitoring and beam adjustments. Both improve targeting over previous methods and reduce the likelihood of side-effects.

Hormone therapy (HT or ADT) will probably also be proposed before and alongside RT, and for some time afterwards. Side-effects of this can be hot flushes, which vary from person to person. And for me, vary each day! Both can also create lower energy levels in some people, which improve after RT and with gentle exercise.

If you haven’t already, suggest you read as many profiles as you can to get a good feel from people in both surgery and radiotherapy camps. Just click on the green ‘name’ above each post.

Good luck making your very personal decision.

Thank simon best wishes 

You may wish to consider Ldr brachytherapy on its own if you meet the criteria. Please see my profile.