standard brachy vs hd brachy vs cyberknife for boost treatment?

I and others have been sucessfully treated w/CK as a primary form of PCa treatment without any or few side effects.  I believe there are a few men here who were successfully treated w/ LDR (low dose rate) BT (brachytherapy) but I also recall them complaining about certain side effects.  I do not recall anyone here who has reporteded being treated w/HDR (high dose rate) BT either as a primary or secondary form of treatment.  

Here is a link which describes the CK procedure: http://www.cyberknife.com/cyberknife-treatments/prostate/how-used-treat-cancer.aspx

Since you are going to receive 5 weeks of IMRT (25 treatments) which presentss its own risk of side effects, I think that the secordary form of treatment should be as precise and accurate as possible to minimize any additional side effects and/or complications and the best secondary treatment wouild be CK which will deliver the additional radiation in the more precise method possible.  With CK, radiation can be delivered w/a sub-mm degreee of accuracy and the treatment can be adjusted to deal w/organ and body movement.  Only 3-4 additional treatments of CK are required over a week's time; no hospitalization is required.  You can walk out of the treatment room just as you can w/IMRT and you should not experience any side effects beyond what has been caused by IMRT.

The design of CK was based on HDR BT.  HDR BT involves the temporary placement of radioactive seeds in the prostate.  I believe that a catheter needs to be installed and remain in place for 1-2 days and that hospitalization overnight is required.   The accuracy of HDR BT depends on the accuracy of the placement of the seeds in terms of location, dose and duration.  All of this is done manually, not by computer as w/CK.  So, the degree of accuracy in terms of the application of the radation is not as good as w/CK. 

Here's a link which describes the HDR BT procedure in great detail: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/high-dose-rate-brachytherapy-treatment-prostate

LDR BT involves the permanent placement of radioactive seeds in the prostate.   I never liked the idea of LDR BT simply because of that.  The seeds will always be detected and may trigger magnet detectors at the airport and public buildings.  You will also be "radiaoactive" for at least a year (the 1/2 life of the seeds) and have to stay away from pregnant women and small children during that time.  Also the seeds can move and/or be expelled through the urethra and/or anus.  Catherization and hospitalization may be required. 

Couldn't find a link to describe the LDR BT procedure as precisely as the one above, but this link should be informative nonetheless: https://isoaid.com/uploads/files/isoaid_patient_guide_2015.pdf

Of the 3 methods, LDR BT is the least accurate and most likely to cause immediate side effects, which involve rectal bleeding and pain/discomfort peeing.  Longer term side effecdts can include bladder/rectal damage (proctitis), ED and incontinence.  HDR can have similiar immediate/long term side effects but such side effects are virtually non-existent for CK.

Obviously, my choice would be CK in terms of convenience, effectiveness and quality of life.  Read up on the differences yourself and talk w/your doctor to decide what you think would be best in your situation.

Good luck!

RonJT said:

It's been awhile so thought I

It's been awhile so thought I would update the group on my progress.  I did end up choosing cyberknife for the boost therapy and was happy with that decision.  Have now been off ADT for 5 weeks.  Still having hot flashes and I expect that will continue for another month or 2.  Getting up at night 2-3 times to urinate.  Flow is good.  Had some numbness and tingling in both hands for awhile.  That has resolved on the right but not quite on the left hand.  Other than that I am symptom free.  No pain, no bleeding, fully continent and physically active. Have not had a followup PSA yet.  That is scheduled for December.  For those of you in the moderate risk category as I am, I hope you find this helpful in choosing your therapy.

Age 69
2/2009 PSA 4.3 Biopsy negative

2009-2016 PSA climbed from 4 to 6

DRE all negative

2/2016 PSA 7.5

Ultrasound and DRE indicate nodule

Biopsy with 6 of 12 cores pos

Two 4+3 Four 3+3

5/11/16 Gold Markers Placed

5/5/2016 on Lupron and Casdex

IMRT started 7/2016 25 fractions 45Gy total

8/4/16 Flomax  0.4mg  started

Cyberknife boost 8/9/16 2 fractions 19 Gy total

9/1/16 Last Dose of Casodex

 

Glad to hear that your CK boost treatment was uneventful in terms of neg side effects.  Hope the followup PSA reading is where you hope it should be. 

I agree that that PSA result  is looking very good. But in contrast to what Vasco wrote, I expect the PSA to go up a bit once your testosterone fully recovers.

RonTJ,

Sounds like you are making good progress. Congratulations. 

As Old Salt and VG have stated.  It takes a while for the PSA to drop.  I had robotic surgery, and mine went down to <0.010 in about 6 months.  I was on Lupron for two full years.  My Testosterone was down to 17.  Normal is 250 - 1,100.  As my last shot of Lupron wore off my Testosterone started coming back up.  When it was up to 134, my PSA still stayed at <0.010.  Then when my Testosterone came into the normal range (it was up to 320 at my last testing), my PSA did come up to 0.035. My doctors were pleased with those results.   I have more blood work in two weeks and will then see what we have to do next.  My doctor has stated that we might try intermittent Lupron.  On three months and off three months. He has also mentioned Casodex. If that doesn't work then I'll have to have some permanenet form of ADT.

Best of Luck

Merry Christmas

Love, Peace and God Bless

Will

Swing,

It all depends on T levels. As you comment above normal T levels are considered between 240-871 ng/dL. Clinical castration (threshold used in trials) are T less than 50 and Medical castration (threshold used in ADT) are T less than 30 ng/dL (some oncologists use still a lower 20 threshold level). These are the levels aimed by physicians when treating and evaluating the patient's status. In other words, castration is what leads doctors to administer hormonal drugs or orchiectomy. Radiation does not drive T to such low level of castration. Additional means are required when combine treatment of RT+HT is the prime protocol.

By experience, I was at T<1 ng/dL during a period of six months at the end of my ADT of 18 months (PSA=0.02 ng/ml) and, when T started to recover reaching the out-of-castration level of T=56 ng/dL (at the 24 month milestone) the PSA also increased, accompanying the increase of T, from 0.02 to 0.03. this tiny climb signifies the influence of T (above castration) on prostatic cells activity as seen/interpreted by both levels; T and PSA. Six months later T reached 384 and PSA was 0.71. I was back to normal levels of T and so it was the bandit wish, enjoying daily T frenzy cocktail parties.

Surely, not all cases are equal. Also the effects may differ if the gland is or is not present. Benign cells also absorb T and produce PSA. There are also those type of cancerous cells that produce little or no PSA at all.
In regards to the trials you refer above, there is no indication of patients initial level to judge the results but in the RT patients' study the T % reached by these signifies they reached T levels above castration. In the RP patients trial, patients were supposed to be in remission levels (PSA=<0.03 ng/ml) without prostatic cells in their body. Logically any PSA variation in the scale indicated between 0.004 to 0.009 ng/ml (all levels within the remission status) would not signify that such has been produced by cancerous cells. The tiny existing levels are thought to be produced by benign cells at the urethra that were not dissected at RP. In comparison with my personal experience (no gland in place) TRT would inevitably cause a surge in cancer activity leading to recurrence much faster. I can go through TRT but should be vigilant for never loosing the grip in controlling the advancement.

Are you going for a ride to Spain this Christmas?

Best,

VG

RonJT said:

psa results

My first PSA after radiation therapy was <0.1ng/ml on 12/6/17
Latest PSA 0n 3/6/17 is 0.2 ng/ml

Should I be concerned about the increase?

 

 

No, you should not be concerned at all. After ADT and radiation, your PSA will jump around. There may even be a spike (bounce). If that happens, your PSA hopefully will settle down again for a long time.

The PSA level that warrants attention is nadir + 2 for patients like you (and me) who had radiation therapy.

Carpe Diem!

Guys with the gland in place (RT patients) may experience the PSA bounce phenomenon after the treatment that can last years. Their nadir, which would serve to judge treatment success or failure, is the lowest PSA at the end of the bounce. At the moment you cannot be sure that the last PSA= 0.2 ng/ml is in fact the nadir. You need three constant increases to verify the value of nadir, from tests spanned at least two months (longer the better).

As Old Salt comments above, recurrence (in RT patients) is declared by a PSA of nadir + 2.0 ng/ml. Your levels are too far away to worry on the matter.

VG