6 week checkup wasn't good.

6 week checkup

 

 

 

 

Hi Tony,

Contrary to the title of your post, your six week checkup was great, zero is the best possible result.  Whether it will stay there is another question.  Your post surgery pathology had some negative findings, specifically the EPE.  Have your doctors discussed with you the possibilities of adjudent or salvage radiation?  If not, you should sit down with a radiation oncologist at MD Anderson and discuss their thinking and how they want to proceed, and why they want to wait until January to retest.  In other words, what are the various options and the pros and cons of each.  In my case, I too had an EPE, and at approx. ten months my Psa began to rise, and I ultimately had salvage radiation.  Hopefully I am done but only time will tell.

In the meantime, try to enjoy life, and enjoy the zero result.  If something happens there will be plenty of time for worry later.

 

Eric

 

Probably a pT3a pN0 MX

Tony,

In your shared info you do not describe the pathological stage indicated in the pathologist's report, but I think that due to existing EPE it may indicate pT2+. Such stage added to the negative seminal vesicles (N0) plus negative lymph nodes, together with the negative image studies and latest zero PSA (at 6 weeks post op), may have led your doctor in to deciding to wait for another PSA test to draw a final conclusion. This is common practice and the next PSA usually is scheduled for three months post op. Your doctor may be highly confident so that he has recommended to get it in January.
However, pT2+ signifies that there are probabilities for a classification of pT3a from the start which in your case would consist of Gleason grade 5 poorly differentiated cells (#2 exhibits extraprostatic extension). These are aggressive and lead many doctors to recommend adjuvant radiation treatment as Eric points out above. Adjuvant means to get treated before recurrence is declared.

In any case, several other doctors prefer to wait for a signal of recurrence before acting on an EPE positive case. This intervention is called Salvage Radio Therapy (SRT) also known by Early-Salvage Postprostatectomy Radiotherapy, which, apart from being done with at a much higher PSA (above 0.1to 0.5 ng/ml), it got a different protocol (wider approach) from the one used in adjuvant radiotherapy. For such a reason I also concur with Eric above that it may be wise to discuss again with your doctor and get the situation more clear. Surely both methods are valid and have high curative rates.

MD Anderson is considered as one of the best institutions for the care of prostate issues (cancer and other cases). It is a reliable place and I think that they want to have their patients well informed. In any case, you will be the responsible for all decisions in interventions (and the outcomes) so that you should get educated before deciding. You need to be attentive and inquire when ever in doubt. You can use the above comments to formulate your list of questions to the doctor.

Here are some materials for you to read;

https://www.auanet.org/guidelines/prostate-cancer-adjuvant-and-salvage-radiotherapy-guideline

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2670381

Best wishes and luck in this journey.

VGama

Pathology

The data you have thus far does not prove any metastasis, but leaves open the possibility of such manifesting itself in the future.  In most cases, metastasis uses as its conduit the lymphatic system, and the fact that so many sentinent nodes tested negative suggests that such did not occur.  

Your present dilemma is as Vasco described:  some doctors would go with a preventative RT (IMRT/IGRT) to the gland bed now.  Others would wait for some evidence of recurrence via PSA results.   It is a matter for you to decide in consultation with your surgeon and the Radiation Oncologists.  I WOULD go ahead and get an RO's opinion now.  But insist on one who specializes in PCa, since ROs tend to be generalists, treating whatever cancer type an assigned patient may have.  I do not have a clear sense of what Best Practices are in your case, but I suspect that more men wait for further treatment.

 

Wait and see or bang it on the head?

Hi there,

I might be tempted to wait and see if the PSA inches up a bit to say 0.2 ng/L before hitting the button marked 66 Gy of radiation plus six months on ADT which is the likely course of action.
Experiences do vary as they say but it is not a walk in the park and if you can give it a miss then I would.
It is impossible to see anything on scans unless the PSA is more than 2 and then it has to be concentrated into one spot if there is a scatter of tiny spots then they cannot see anything.
As Dr Tigger my urologist might say in one of his more lucid moments 'You may not be cured or on the other hand you may not be ill, we really do not know at this point.' :-)

Best wishes,

Georges