What would you do?
83 year old in otherwise good health—sexually active
March 2022—TURP procedure. Surgical pathology exam positive for prostate cancer with Gleeson score 3+4=7
Decided on active watching with PSA measurement and follow up with urologist at 6 month intervals.
Nov 2022: 1.9
Jun 2023: 2.8
Dec 2023: 2.9
May 2024: 3.4
Urologist has urged me to start radiation treatment from the beginning. I have a follow up meeting next week and I am anticipating an even more robust opinion from him about starting treatment.
I do not want to compromise my sex life.
Any advice, comments, sharing of similar experience will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks—
Comments
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Hi,
First of all if it was me I would want to know if the cancer is contained inside of the Prostate. A PMSA PET scan should show you that. I would opt for Proton treatment or Cyberkife. Proton has a fixed beam length and does not go past the target to limit damage past the cancer. With Cyberknife you will need some form of gel between your Prostate and Rectum so the beam does not damage the Rectum. 3+4 is kind of on the aggressive side so knowing where it is inside of your Prostate I feel is important.
Dave 3+4
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I would want to know if you have had an MRI. I believe it is less likely to have metastatic disease with a PSA of 3.4. I would wonder if you have other worrisome PIRAD lesions that should be biopsied and if that would increase your Gleason group risk.
Good luck and please keep us updated.
jc
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Hello @Salty5, here's my 2c.
Gleason 3+4 is pretty normal at time of diagnosis but despite that, your PSA is actually below normal range for someone your age. Your PSA doubling time is somewhere near 24 months; a doubling time of 3 months is panic stations, and a doubling time of 9 months is the usual indicator to intervene immediately. Roughly speaking.
I would like you to consider this: Your cancer is present but not overly aggressive now. Let's suppose that it might turn nasty in a year or two and it might need some sort of intervention at some stage after that. Who's to say that by the time you are in your late 80's you wouldn't lose sexual function anyway? Don't take this the wrong way, but it seems like you value your sex life higher than your actual life. You are in an enviable position. For someone in your situation, your potency is a bonus. May as well keep enjoying it knowing that it could end anytime naturally anyway!
My completely uneducated assumption is that you are the guy who will die with, not of, prostate cancer. Serious question - what is your life expectancy? If your target is 90 for instance, it's probably not worth treating your cancer now if the potential side effects are unpalatable to you. But it is definitely worth continually monitoring your cancer with regular PSA blood tests and scans; at least it will give you options. Keep going with active watching!
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I agree with On- journey's opinion. If you are worried that a treatment would prejudice your sexy life, then do nothing. Radiation treatment of the prostate may prejudice your performance.
NCCN guidelines do not recommend radical treatments in patients of your age. How about discussing with your doctor in using antiandrogens intermittently.
Best
VG
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Thank you, I am grateful for the several responses to my issue. The cancer diagnosis is based on analysis of the bits of my prostate that were flushed out during the TURP procedure. I have no idea how the TURP procedure affects the physical condition of the prostate. I picture it as "mangled", but I need to explore this issue with my Urologist.
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Thank you. You have pretty much nailed my current attitude. I realize that I am lucky that my primary worry is loss of sexual function, and that there are many men on this forum with very serious health concerns. I appreciate your comments and advice.
Edit: This was meant to respond to On-A-Journey and the follow up by VG. I have no idea why it is not associated with your comments, but thank you again.
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Thanks again to everyone who responded. The information provided and opinions expressed are incredibly helpful to me.
I tried to reply to everyone, but because of the structure of the forum, I'm not certain that I did so. If I missed anyone, I apologize.
Thank you. You have pretty much nailed my current attitude. I realize that I am lucky that my primary worry is loss of sexual function, and that there are many men on this forum with very serious health concerns. I appreciate your comments and advice.
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how was your TURP .. did you have LUTS lower urinary track symptoms. How was the procedure and the recovery and what symptoms where u having and have they resolved due to the TURP.
Interesting your psa’s are so “normal range” and you have a Gleason score of 7. And they know this from prostate pcs they captured during the TURP procedure ?
I wonder if your TURP gives you less issues and symptoms due to the procedure from treatment. Maybe worth asking?They did my MRI first instead of dealing with my symptoms .. and since a high pirads score the focus moves towards a diagnosis of cancer or not .
I’m just in my early 60 waiting on my biopsy results, and dealing with these persistent urinary track issues .
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I did not have LUTS before or after TURP. My whole issue was related to urination difficulty. I started with Urolift which was done without anesthetic and was very painful. This Eurolift did not work, so after about a year, I opted for TURP. In both cases, blood clots were a major side effect which took me to the ER and ultimately the hospital for a couple of days. After returning from the hospital, I had to wear a catheter for a week or so.
Bottom line, ultimately TURP worked for me and I am free of urinary symptoms. Yes, the cancer was discovered after biopsy on the bits of prostate recovered from the procedure. I have no idea if there is a connection between my TURP procedure and my lack of symptoms (other than PSA anxiety every 6 months) related to the prostate cancer.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have additional questions or comments. I feel for you while you are waiting on the biopsy results and hope they are negative for cancer.
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I would not expect an MRI prior to TURP without an elevated PSA.
Now that you have the diagnosis of prostate cancer at 83 years of age and your doctor is suggesting treating it, I strongly encourage you to get an MRI. If there are no significant PIRAD lesions then you have T1a or T1b disease. You may do very well with observation only. It should take 10 years for your prostate cancer to become problematic, you will be 93 years old in 10 yrs.
If you do have significant PIRAD lesions then a biopsy seems very reasonable and you will make a more informed decision about follow on treatment such as radiation.
Just my two cents,
jc0
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