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I'm scheduled for a consult for possible salvage radiation. I'm 3 weeks post RRP. My pathology report was mostly very good (no spread to seminal vesicles or lymph nodes) but the cancer was very close to the margin. I had my left nerve bundles removed because they were involved with cancer, which tells me there is a chance of leakage outside the capsule.
So, I am going in for a consult later today and am wondering what to ask the radiation doc. If I do have salvage radiation, it won't be for at least another 3 months after I've had my follow-up PSA.
Are there any questions that I should ask of the radiation doc? And what kinds of radiation are the best (most successful/least harm)?
Thanks,
Ted
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Age 57
PSA 2/2012: 5.5
DRE: nodule on left side of prostate
Biopsy: 3 of 6 cores positive
Gleason score: 4+4
Pre Op CT Scan & Bone Scan clean
RRP: 6/13/2012
Post Op Pathology: all margins clean, Gleason Score 4+5, Seminal Vesicles not involved but tumor comes up to edge of SV. Extension into the left nerve.
High Grade PIN
PSA at 2 weeks: 1.1
Incontinence & Impotence: Still waiting...
Your post op pathology sounds almost identical to mine. My PSA started rising after about a year. I went for hormonal and radiation therapy when my PSA reached .36. From my research it seemed like the consensus was best results were achieved prior to PSA rising above .5. Johns Hopkins has guide lines for picking location to have radiation therapy. I had IMRT at UCLA and could not have been happier although I still don't know if it was successful. If you want to know more of my experience feel free to E-mail me direct at BZFIRE@aol.com. Good luck with your post op recovery.
While I'm still months away from having radiation (if necessary), I want to find out what kind of radiation they do. I believe my oncologist said IMRT, but have heard that IGRT can be better, though, someone told me they do a CT scan prior to every IGRT dose. Yikes! That's a hell of a lot of radiation!
