IMRT as primary treatment

mrspjd said:

IMRT as primary
Juliet,
I have not posted on this thread since my husband's (pjd) primary tx was a combination of ADT (hormones) and IMRT (including another high dosing radiation procedure called HDR-B.) PJD's Gleason at dx (Feb 2010) was a 3+4=7, with locally advanced T3 PCa and his follow up protocol is different because of the addition of the ADT.

When IMRT is the sole primary tx, (without addition of ADT), follow up PSA, Testosterone, & DHT testing is usually done at about 3 months after tx completion, then every 3 months for at least the first year in order to establish a trend early on. However, it could take over a year or longer post IMRT tx for the PSA to stabilize and reach a nadir. A PSA bounce effect (fluctuation) within limits, is not uncommon, until there is a consistent reading. With a pre tx G7 (and not knowing the other stats of your husband's dx), I, too, would be concerned about waiting 6 months for the first follow-up testing. I suggest that you both talk with your rad onc and PCa oncologist to understand why they are waiting 6 mos--then I would insist on beginning testing at 3 months after IMRT completion.
Best to you both,
mrs pjd

Hi 

I have a particular inquiry about ADT before Rt.

Actually my father has just recieved ADT and due to be recieve Radiation therapy.

Some doctors advise to wai for 2 months prior to RT and some say 12 days.

I am wondering did you take ADt before RT and waited for some time or not ?

His PSA is 11 and Gleeson Score of 3 + 5 = 8

Locally advanced cancer with no metssys or lymph node included.

Regards

Harmik Batth

krikri said:

Hi Juliet,

Hi Juliet,

Thanks for sharing. Please what long term effects did your husband experience (if any)?

kri,

Juliet was last online here in May of 2011.  A  response is unlikely. You can tell when a person last logged in by simply clicking on their screen name, although that will not indicate when someone looked at the threads without logging in.  Apparantly CSN never scrubs accounts, even after a decade of no use. 

If you are wondering about IMRT and IGRT, know that they have for a long time been the most common form of RT (radiation therapy) against PCa, with very few side effects usually reported. Occasionally, but statistically rare.  It is one of the safest ways to treat PCa in general.  IGRT is a modification of IMRT, with some guidance updating. But most new "fractionated" radiation machines combine both technologies; the ones at my cancer center do.  The term 'IMRT' is today often used interchangably with 'IGRT' in conversation, even by oncologists.

max