gold markers

Hello I am a 55 year old had di vinci surgery in June of 2009. My psa numbers began to rise after surgery and now I am going to start hormone and radiation therapy.I am going to have gold markers implanted the 25th of december . I just need to see if some body can shed some light on those two procedures.I am a little bit afraid but I've been through so much so far I guess I can get through these two little obsticles with my wifes support.thanks to every one who can give me a little bit of insight.

For me the gold markers were like a "mini biopsy"... The procedure is actually similar, but quicker. I had the trans-rectal ultrasound once again to help guide the procedure. I got the local lidocaine topical anesthetic as I did in the biopsy. The placement of the markers felt very similar to the brief sting of a biopsy core going in - but there were only 2 (as compared to 14, for me at biopsy)... The only difference was that Loma Linda asked me to give myself an enema a couple hours before marker placement. I was all alone, and that was a bit tricky, but I managed. Ten minutes after the gold markers were in, I was back to normal...no pain, no soreness. Again, it was a mini-biopsy...pretty much a non-event.

I am quite curious as well about the gold markers. I haven't heard about that for salvage radiation treatment. I am aware of the tatoos, but not the gold markers.

Regardless, sorry to hear you are in this position so soon after surgery. I am also not too surprised by the addition of hormone therapy, as that combination seems to have the best results for high risk cases.

Best of luck to you and yours. Not much of a Christmas present I am afraid though..

Don

Did they place them through your rectum,urethra or perineum? They have told me mine would be through my perineum and to me that just sounds so uncomfortable.But as always I will survive!

Hi Zach,

Through the perineum with a needle guided by ultrasound. I felt nothing and had no soreness afterwards. I think it sounds worse than it actually is.

Good luck,

Don

Hi Zach,

Yes, I think that sometimes the doctors give out little information and we take the small amount gven and build a worst case scenario in our minds. A philosopher once noted that "the things that he most worried about in life were the things that never happened'.

By the way, I see that you have lymph node involvement. Are they planning to do full pelvic radiation in addition to the prostate bed? My first 25 sessions were a combination of pelvic and prostate specific.

Don

Don
I'm not sure about the area they are going to zap yet I know they are going to do my prostate bed but not sure if they are going to do my pelvic area as well. I will keep you posted

Zach

I am in the process of undergoing CK treatment for PCa I chose this over surgery and part of the treatment is placing fiducial markers in the prostate in my case or elsewhere for those who have had surgery. There are 2 ways transrectal like a biopsy and perineum. Some centers like the perineum because it avoids the possibility of infection by going though the rectum. The perineum approach is usually done with some sedation transrectally a local. I had the bad luck of going to St Luke's in Houston who uses a trans buttocks approach and as far as I can tell they are the only ones doing it this way and of course they screwed it up but also of course it was because of my weird anatomy not their incompetence. Needless to say I am looking to go to another CK site. If ANYONE suggests implanting markers in any way other than transperineum or trans rectal RUN AWAY!!! The other lesson I would pass along is if you feel uncomfortable with any of the advice you are getting leave post haste and find another doctor. I felt uncomfortable from the start with St Luke's but convinced myself I was imagining things and ultimately convinced myself to go through with using them. BIG MISTAKE