Cryotherapy or Radiation???

tadow
tadow Member Posts: 4
in Prostate Cancer #1
Hello I am a 75 yr old African American male with newly diagnosed Prostate Cancer. I have no history of BPH and this is not known to run in the family. Therefore I have not monitored my PSA levels because they were within normal limits every year until this year when it was elevated and the urologist noticed a couple hard nodules during a DRE. They were biopsied and results were 4 positive cores out of 14. My gleason score is 7, and state TP2c. My PSA has since went down to 4.6 and then 4.5 which I was told was WNL. I only have hyperlipidemia in my medical history. I am very active, drive and otherwise healthy. I am confused and unsure as to which tx method to choose and am very stressed out. Please offer any advice on these 2 treatment options and its efficacy and reoccurance rate. I have heard that radiation can cause cancers in surrounding tissues which scares me and also that cryotherapy is fairly new. Please Please advise

Comments

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,346 Member
    #2
    tadow
    please add this post to your original post so you can have all information in one thread.....thanks..
  • silverfox1
    silverfox1 Member Posts: 36
    #3
    Cyberknife treatment
    Hope this will be helpful to you. I choose Cyberknife Radiation as my treatment plan two years ago and have had no side affects. My PSA prior to treatment was 4.4 and it steadily dropped to 0.2 as of my lab work last month. So far so good, no apparent issues with any other tissues that were exposed to the radiation. There are others on this site that had their treatments earlier than I did and may be able to contribute more. The choice is yours to make, do the research and pick the treatment you are most comfortable with. Again, I have had no issues from my treatment and wish you the best!
  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #4
    Radiation causing cancer...
    tadow,

    In your post you wrote about your fear that radiation might cause other cancers in surrounding tissue. Older forms of radiation did indeed sometimes induce cancer in adjacent tissue but the time frame for this is about 15-20 years. Frankly, at age 75 that is not something I would spend too much time fretting about. I suggest you seek out a treatment that gives you the highest possible quality of life while curbing or eliminating the growth of your cancer.

    Cyberknife is one option that does that, as Silverfox points out. I had that treatment too and have had no ill effects. There are other options as well and I recommend that you consult with a variety of experts to find out what is best for your personal situation.

    Good luck.

    K

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