Choosing the best Radiation Treatment

phil9200
phil9200 Member Posts: 2
in Prostate Cancer #1
Who has the best results and the least side effects? IMRT, IGRT, Calypso, Cybernife, Tomo, Proton? Low grade Prostate cancer. History of Prostatitis

Comments

  • califvader
    califvader Member Posts: 108
    #2
    My Treatment.
    i can tell you my treatment. i chose IMRT treatment. however, it was salvage radiation. i had my prostate removed years ago and had recurrance of rising psa. now, post radiation, my psa levels are dropping. i did not have any side effects other than a sore rectum but that goes away. i had 36 treatments and so far so good.
  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #3
    Awkward Question
    Phil,

    This is a bit of an awkward question without knowing more of the context of the patient in terms of age, lifestyle, precise details of the diagnosis (more specific than "low grade cancer" such as PSA history, age, DRE results, family history, and the severity of the symptoms of prostitis)

    All of the treatment options you describe offer minimal side effects with a high degree of efficacy but there are wide variations in cost, length of treatment time, convenience, and other technical factors that may or may not be relevant but without knowing more about the patient's actual diagnosis discussing the merits of one over another is pretty much just an academic exercise. Depending upon how low the "low grade cancer" is and the age of the patient the best option may be to do nothing at all. Prostate cancer does not always need to be treated and frequently the treatment is worse than the disease itself.

    There are no shortcuts to educating yourself about these various treatments and the pros and cons. Each one has to be looked at from the context of the diagnose, lifestyle, and priorities of the individual patient.

    K

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