NEW TREATMENT CALLED HIFU

Tinfly, many here have heard of HIFU as a treatment, but as you probably know, its not FDA approved for use in the US at this point.

If you are Agent Orange Viet-Nam vet, have you applied for or are you already getting VA disability for the prostate cancer? Several of us here are in the processing steps of such a claim. If you need any info on that part, we can help you too.

David in SC

Hi tinfly,
Welcome to HealingWell. HIFU is still in the study stages in the US but it will be approved soon enough. Not sure what you mean by "my guts suck out" but you should know that HIFU has it's share of setbacks. Many say it is less invasive and it is. Is it as effective?, that is why it is still in the study stages. Here is a link of various tidbits and also a new 8 year study released in Japan. I hope this helps...

prostatecancerinfolink.net/?s=hifu

Tony

 I THANK YOU PEOPLE VERY MUCH.WHEN YA START  WITH A HIGH PSA A ITS LIKE NO WHERE TO RUN WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW AND I NOT KNOW ANYTHING.THANK YA ALL .THE HIFU IS IN CANADA AND FIND SOME PLACES IN USA.

Real Ziggy,

I hear you. I know that HIFU is a legitmate technology for what ails us, but what is it about the HIFU posters, does it make people goes nuts thinking about it?

David in SC

Tinfly,

Cancer does not eliminate sex life. There are many solutions to maintaining and active sex life, no matter what treatment option you choose.

Goodlife

tin,

due to our general age range, there is quite a few of us Viet Nam vets in here. many of the younger brothers don't always understand what it meant when there was an unpopular war going on and you were 18 with a low lottery number.

glad you already got your VA disability, but I know that came with a price.

as far as your sex life, having prostate cancer is no certainty that you won't have a sex life. most men here either overcome ED at some point, or learn to adjust and adapt for sex post prostate cancer.

as far as radiation again ,depends on where you had it before. i had cancer in my throat and underwent massive radiation in the year 2000, now, in the year 2008, i just had radiation in the prostate bed after my surgery failed and i had recurrance.

if you post some of your other stats, it might help us understand what real choices you may have in front of you. many men have had surgery here, myself included (open surgery- non robotic) and have done well healing from it.

david in sc

geezer, how do you see the thread as spamming? Appears more like a few vets swapping brags over a beer. I still fail to see how this applies as spamming? There's been no advocacy of HIFU, other than the initial posts question by tinfly about it. Such a question asking if anyone has heard of the technique doesn't rise to the level of spamming. Unless I am missing something not obvious?

tinfly, let's move the subject back to PCa, rather than swapping war stories, ok? , How about telling us your story, with your stats and history. Also, if you would, please change the font of your posts as they are much larger and darker than the norm and makes for hard reading for us old eye.

TinFly,
Do not take offense. There have been quite a few spammers for HIFU services hit this invaluable site over the last year, so members are naturally wary when a thread is titled "New Treatment Called HIFU". Be patient as there are a few members who may not be on line now who had the procedure and may be able to help with info. I should imagine that you would be equally irate about somebody trying to take advantage of your serious illness solely to make a few bucks. Additionally many members here have had highly successful surgery as their treatment and describing them as having had their "guts sucked out" is bound to get some offside.
Bill

tinfly, you probably know, but in case you don't, the usual steps in finding a treatment plan is as follows. This is how it is for the majority of men here:

Detection begins with a high PSA result, or a lump/knot/mass being felt during a digital rectal exam (DRE). The doctor, if not a urologist, will refer the guy to a urologist. Once there, they may or may not repeat the PSA test, they definetly should do another DRE. The patient should abstain from any sexual activity for 3 days before the blood draw, and the DRE should not be done until after the blood draw is done. Most doctors will start us on a round of antibiotics for a couple/few weeks, then retest the blood. At that point, if the PSA is still higher than normal for the age and size of the prostate, a biopsy will be done, usually from 12 to 16 cores taken for the path. lab to examine. The results usually take a week or less to come back, and the results will determine the initial staging and Gleason Score, giving you an initial but not complete idea of the cancer, if there is any in the cores. A biopsy can totally miss a really small and early cancer, so if you get a "nothing found" result but still have high PSA, then you will need to retest PSA often and watch it. Any PSA rise would be the trigger for another biopsy. I hope I have given you the normal progression of testing and detection of PCa, as we see it here.

One other favor? Could you unlock your Caps button? Normal Internet protocol has all capitals typing as shouting. You may feel like shouting, with the results you may be facing, but we're here to help, ok?

hi tinfly i am in england and we have not approved it yet either but there is an nhs national health service test under way which i have been put into but the advantages of hifu for me are reduced because prior to a template biopsy[30-40}samples they had hoped to zap just the specific areas tney knew about from the initial biopsy.having found it on both sides and more extensive than first thought most of it will have to be zapped thus reducing the benefits that i thought i would gain over radical.keep us posted barry ps these guys are great