Surgery verus other treatments

My surgery is one year past at this time and other than minor drips things look well. However, during my pre-surgery time I was led to believe that any of the alternative treatments precludes surgery later. A good friend of mine is now in the same situtation and he is leaning toward a non-surgery treatment, i.e. proton therapy or seeds. Could someone comment on the likelihood of surgery after radiation, laser or other treatments.

There are very few urologists that will perform surgery after a radiated prostate. The tissue is more rigid and heals differently.
Incontinence occurs in a large percentage of these patients. Since the success rate is so low, most post-radiation surgeries occur at major cancer centers or teaching hospitals where things are to be learned from the procedure.

As one of those patients, I was told at the outset that the surgery option was eliminated once radiation was selected. After a couple of years I became a patient at M D Anderson. When hormone therapy started failing, my prostate was biopsied, cancer found in the prostate, and was offered surgery. True to form I am now experiencing the world of incontinence and stricture surgeries.

Good luck to both you and your friend.

Dave

It was a no brainer for surgery for me. But, as all of say on this forum, each of us has to call our own play. Obviously, age, gleason, biopsy results all play a part. I opted for surgery as mentioned previously: With surgery, you have post surgery options. With radiation, surgery is no longer an option. From radiation first, the prostate is too badly damaged and if if the cancer then has spread outside the margins, then there is a whole new playbook. The gleason/age correlation would be the most important call. At my age, with a gleason of 8, as I said, a simple decision. Da Vinci.