Prostate Cancer Survivors

 

YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

 

 

This forum is for the discussion of anything to do with Prostate Cancer.
There are only four rules:

  • No fundraisers, no commercials (although it is OK to recommend choices of treatment or medical people based on your personal research; invitations to participate in third-party surveys are also acceptable, provided there is no compensation to YANA);
  • No harvesting e-mail addresses for Spam;
  • No insults or flaming - be polite and respectful at all times and understand that there may be a variety of points of view, all of which may have some validity;
  • Opinions are OK, but please provide as much factual evidence as possible for any assertions that you are making

Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

Since this is an International Forum, please specify your location in your post.

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
focal cryoablation

I was wondering if anyone in the forum has had any experience with focal cryoablation. My urologist, who is an experienced cryosurgeon, told me I would be a good candidate for this procedure. This came up when I informed him I had chosen Active Surveillance as my treatment of choice. He had no problem with this, but then suggested the focal cryo as a way to remove what is known while leaving the rest of the prostate intact. His opinion is that this is basically AS with a kick so to speak. The side effects are low, no incontinence problems and only a very small chance of ED. He does caution that it is new and can not guarantee 100% removal of all cancer. He did say that it would leave all options open should further treatment be needed including surgery to remove the prostate.

It was interesting that he proposed this as I had been actively looking into the procedure. I had contacted Dr. Onik in Florida a week earlier concerning the procedure. As I said in the mentor area, I felt other options were like using a shotgun to kill a fly; this seems to be using a flyswatter instead.

The only hesitation I have is I will be the first in my area to do this. He is well known in the field, and is a teaching cryosurgeon, and has done nerve sparing cryo on the whole gland. however this will be the first targeted focal that he has done. I guess someone has to be first but... Anyway the risk overall seems low, side effects minimal, and I will keep up the AS regimen to make sure it stays gone.

Just looking for thoughts. If I do it, I will have the procedure in 2-3 weeks.

Thanks,
Fred

Re: focal cryoablation

I am considering this therapy under Dr. AlBarqawi at the University of Colorado in Denver. See alprostate.com What did you ultimately decide>

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

I was wondering if anyone in the forum has had any experience with focal cryoablation. My urologist, who is an experienced cryosurgeon, told me I would be a good candidate for this procedure. This came up when I informed him I had chosen Active Surveillance as my treatment of choice. He had no problem with this, but then suggested the focal cryo as a way to remove what is known while leaving the rest of the prostate intact. His opinion is that this is basically AS with a kick so to speak. The side effects are low, no incontinence problems and only a very small chance of ED. He does caution that it is new and can not guarantee 100% removal of all cancer. He did say that it would leave all options open should further treatment be needed including surgery to remove the prostate.

It was interesting that he proposed this as I had been actively looking into the procedure. I had contacted Dr. Onik in Florida a week earlier concerning the procedure. As I said in the mentor area, I felt other options were like using a shotgun to kill a fly; this seems to be using a flyswatter instead.

The only hesitation I have is I will be the first in my area to do this. He is well known in the field, and is a teaching cryosurgeon, and has done nerve sparing cryo on the whole gland. however this will be the first targeted focal that he has done. I guess someone has to be first but... Anyway the risk overall seems low, side effects minimal, and I will keep up the AS regimen to make sure it stays gone.

Just looking for thoughts. If I do it, I will have the procedure in 2-3 weeks.

Thanks,
Fred

RETURN TO HOME PAGE LINKS