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From all the studies I have read: proton has the same failure rate as IMRT in low risk PC and a slightly higher failure rate in high and intermediate risk.
JohnT
I received an E-mail from Dr. Rossi at LLUMC last evening. He believes it still may be post-treatment inflammation. He has seen it occasionally in younger patients. His advice to me is to have a PSA once a month for the next three months to ensure it is not rising. If it is rising he would like a re-biopsy. If it remains stable or starts to fall we will continue to monitor it as it could take a couple of years for the PSA to drop.
Dr. Carl Rossi is great! He was my doc at Loma Linda also. I think that is great advice but after several months if the PSA is stable or falling I personally would go to every two or three months for a period of time. Just remember what I said about pre-blood draw precautions to avoid "exercizing" the gland. What ever you do, I would send Dr. Rossi a letter or e-mail with the current PSA result each time.
All following this thread: The fact that Dr. Rossi has seen this in younger patients is interesting and is a good data point. Dr. Rossi has been at LLUMC for a long time and is or was their preimminent radiation oncologist. He has probably seen literally thousands of proton patients at LLUMC, so he probably knows as much about the effects of proton therapy for prostate cancer as anyone. See:
http://www.protons.com/about-us/doctors/carl-rossi-md.html
