PC Doctors in the Raleigh area

I'd like to hear from anyone in the Raleigh/Durham area in regards to who they might recommend. The best surgeons, the best RO? I might want to speak to in respect to my recent diagnosis. Also what is the difference between a GS of 3+4 vs a 4+3? Anything? Seeing my urologist again today armed with many more questions this time around. Seeing an RO on Thursday for a different perspective. Anything you can help with would be most appreciated.

Hello New Life 2015,

I am in the Raleigh/Durham area as are my doctors. They are --

Dr. Frank Tortora urologist/surgeon
Dr William Berry medical oncologist
Dr John F Reilly radiation oncologist

Dr. Tortora is a hotshot robotic surgeon and has trained a lot of the other local doctors on the machines. He's a nice guy and a good surgeon, one of the better ones in the area with a lot of experience but probably less than the rock-star surgeons in the big-city medical centers.

Dr. Berry is a Prostate Cancer survivor himself and has recently re-targeted his practice to focus on prostate cancer, becoming one of a very few to do so. He is an excellent medical oncologist if you need one which you may not.

Dr Reilly is the one of whom I know the least. He was simply the RO who handled radiation treatments at the same cancer center where I saw Dr. Berry. He seems very competent and capable and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for IMRT treatments. As far as I know he doesn't do some of the other more-exotic stuff.

Gleason 7 (4+3) is at the higher risk end of the intermediate risk category and G7 (3+4) is at the lower end. Gleason type 4 cells are the predominant type in G7(4+3) and they are the more aggressive ones.

Feel free to drop me an email and I will be glad to try to provide more info. We could also meet for a cup of coffee and/or a beer someday, if you like.

Dr. Tortora was my urologist for years and my surgeon. I no longer see him. He is an excellent surgeon and I am cancer free 4.5 years later. However, I was a G6 and, with the luxury of hindsight, I do not believe I needed surgery. I cannot say Dr. Tortora pushed me into surgery but I think I should have been given more information about alternatives.

My real issue is with my post surgery care. I was never given Viagra post surgery, I had bad incontinence and could never get any attention about that. Finally, after several months, he remembered to tell me about biofeedback. Anyway, I survived but have a sling and still have continence issues and total ED. I will always think some of this could have been avoided if I had had Dr. Tortora's full attention.
Also, he told me his success rates for continence and ED were in the high nineties, I know now that no one has that kind of success.
I now see Dr. Mark Jalkut and feel like I am in good hands and everyone I know that sees him is well satisfied.

Hello Newlife and welcome. I can't add to the answers you have received other than to agree with your conclusion that the SE's from radiation are likely to be less onerous than those from surgery. Of course that is on average and is doctor and case dependent.

If you are going to stick around here - and I hope you do - you might consider creating a signature in your profile so that we can respond better to future questions. That would include things like PSA, age, Gleason score, number and percentage of positive cores, etc.

Finally, if you have not done so I would suggest you get a second reading on your biopsy slides from an expert PCa pathologist such as Dr. Epstein at JHU or Dr. Bostwick at Bostwick Labs.

Jim

newlife2015 said...
How about Cancer Treatment Centers of America? Any thoughts? I almost feel like I am being sold to buy whatever they have to offer.

In March 2013 the Reuters news service published an investigation into CTCA (which is a for-profit enterprise), looking at how it comes up with its survival statistics and how it selects the patients it treats. The lead reporter is a longtime science/health writer and editor and knows her stuff. A member of an oral cancer community where I've been active for several years (husband had OC; I've been lurking here because my brother-in-law was diagnosed with PC in November and recently had surgery) also noted that while CTCA does offer conventional therapies, the highly promoted add-ons (naturopathy, etc.) may not be covered by insurance -- so presumably those costs would come out of your pocket.

Post Edited (Bluepencil) : 4/21/2015 7:35:01 AM (GMT-6)