Am I a Candidate for FLA? Surgery in 3 Days!!

Lucky64

Posts: 29
Joined: Jun 2017

Jul 16, 2017 - 10:10 am

Maybe I'm getting cold feet? I had ruled out radiation because the hormone therapy would be bad for my comorbidities of diabetes and cardiac, so I researched the best doc and hospital in Chicago and on Wednesday I am going in for RP surgery.

However, by total coincidence I am going in for a new type of MRI tomorrow: 2 hours of laying still, and I learned it's part of a study to use in the future for FLA. So I have done a ton of research in the last day as to if I am a candidate for FLA, if my Blue Cross PPO of IL will pay for it, etc. It is presently Sunday so I can't contact the Univ of Chicago's Uro department.

My reservations are there is no long track record for FLA, and I am reading that as a G 4+3 I may have missed the cut off? There seems to be two well known privately owned (red flag) FLA clinics, but I'd like to have it done in a teaching hospital where there's no profit motive.

So, any advice would be greatly appreciated and when I go in for the experimental MRI tomorrow I will try to see if I am a candidate and possibly postpone Wednesday's surgery.

Thanks!

Nick

Old Salt

Posts: 720
Joined: Aug 2014

Jul 16, 2017 - 1:27 pm

Forget it

Stick with your plan and don't go with a largely untested procedure.

But, with your test results (and other health issues), I would have seriously considered SBRT for treatment.

GeorgeG

Posts: 127
Joined: May 2017

Jul 16, 2017 - 5:16 pm

If it were me, I would not go

If it were me, I would not go with a treatment option that new and with limited rigorous study data unless I was trying to solve a difficult problem that cannot be addressed by established successful procedures. Surgeons are saving lives everyday with RP and unless you have an advanced case you have a high chance of cure. In addition other procedures will still be available to you later. With FLA I don't know what your salvage options would be. What is it about FLA that appeals to you more than surgery?

how many RP's has your surgeon done?

George

hopeful and opt...

Posts: 2234
Joined: Apr 2009

Jul 16, 2017 - 8:45 pm

SBRT

FLA is new, in theory is great, however technology is not advanced at this date for excellent outcome. Additionally it is oriented to small amounts of 3+3=6

Surgery can have major side effects, more so than any other active treatment.

SBRT has limited side effects while still having excellent cure results

Here is a study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211385/

https://prostatecancerinfolink.net/2016/01/06/nine-year-outcomes-after-treatment-with-sbrt/

CSN

cancer.org

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Am I a Candidate for FLA? Surgery in 3 Days!!

Forget it

If it were me, I would not go

SBRT