Has anyone heard of BX protocol for prostate cancer?

I did not watch the whole video but think your chances best involve mainstream medicine.
There should be nothing likely to be dangerous from a scan.
Your next decision would be about Salvage Radiation that Might be helpful.
I would stay with good medical and radiation oncologists. Good luck.
P.S. What are they biopsying?

A few comments...

• The first scan is usually a bone scan, which can pick up any large distant tumors in bones. It would almost certainly be negative for you.

• PET scans aren't scary at all. They inject a positron-emitting chemical with a short half-life (110 minutes in this case) that is detectable on a PET scanner. They do a CT scan at the same time to get better detail.

• The PET chemical they are proposing for you, FDG, is very similar to glucose. The theory is that cancer cells pick up and metabolize glucose quicker than healthy cells, so they preferentially pick it up. However, that theory doesn't typically apply to prostate cancer, at least not until advanced stage disease. There are much better chemicals to use, such as NaF18 (which insurance may pay for), or choline or acetate-based indicators (which can be challenging to get coverage for). The latest generation of indicators is based on an antibody to "prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)" but they are only available in clinical trials.

• However, your PSA may be too low for a tumor to be detected by any of those radioindicators, although they may sometimes be picked up if PSA is rising rapidly.

• Unless they find tumors distant from the prostate, which is unlikely because of the above, they will do exactly the same salvage radiation therapy on you, whether they find a tumor (by targeted biopsy) or not. They will irradiate the prostate bed, which is the first place prostate cancer usually travels to. If you had stage pT2 with positive surgical margins, it is a good bet that it will be successful.

• You didn't mention if they took out some pelvic lymph nodes during your surgery and if they were clear or not.

• They can check for suspicious enlarged lymph nodes with a CT scan. If found, they can irradiate that area too.

- Allen

Thank you for taking time out of your day to respond. I REALLY appreciate everyones input. In regards to the biopsy, I believe they will biopsy the pelvic bed. I will definitely look into the NaF18, Choline, Acetate-based indicators and PSMA. I recently had a cancer patient talk to me about about the FDG pet CT...He said the scan technicians all come in the room with full radiation suits on. Your entire body will turn red with radiation and they recommend you stay away from people and pets for 24 hours. That sounds pretty frightening to me. Am I correct on that??
_____________________________________________________
Age 49 Diagnosed at 47
Malignant neoplasm of prostate Gleason score =7 (4+3)
Prostate, robotic assisted radical prostatectomy-1/14/2014

Pathologic Diagnosis:
1. Prostatic adenocarcinoma. Gleason 7=(4+3)
2. Organ confined (pT2)
3. Seminal vesicles and vasa deferentia are negative for tumor
4. Margins positive. See coment

Prostate, right postero-lateral base, biopsy: Benign prostatic tissue
Right pelvic lymph nodes, resection: Thirteen benign lymph nodes (0/13)
Left pelvic lymph nodes, resection: Thirteen benign lymph nodes (0/13)

Comment: Dominant nodule location: Right posterolateral/posterior region (mid to base)
Size of dominant nodule: 2.0 x 1.2 x 0.7 cm
Gleason grade percentages (dominant nodule): Gleason 4 = 60%; Gleason 3=40%
Additional nodules: none
location and extent of positive margin: right posterior mid; linear length = 5mm. Gleason score of tumor at margin is 7 (4+3).

PSA levels
4.0 12/30/13 (Pre surgery)
<0.1 03/18/14 (3 months after surgery)
<0.1 06/16/14
<0.1 09/17/14
0.2 12/16/14
0.2 01/17/15
0.4 04/16/15 (PSA level just doubled in 3 months)

If they want to do radiation you should look into proton treatment. I am 2weeks from completing my treatment and it has been a breeze. My Gleason was 3 plus 4. Three cores positive psa was 3.4. Only side effect I have had as slight burning when urinating. No damage to surrounding areas.

John,

There are lots of different kinds of radiation treatments if you decide to go that way. Best not to get too hung up on any of them until you've had time to do your homework. What sort of doctor are you seeing tomorrow? Your urologist? Urologists aren't always experts on radiation therapy.

Yes, your surgeon is probably a urologist. Most urologists are surgical specialists and only a very few of them double in other specialties. He is definitely the right guy for you to be seeing for what you are doing now. If the results cause you to look for salvage radiation then you will need to talk to other doctors.

If that happens your surgeon will probably refer you to a local radiation oncologist who he works with regularly. That doctor may or may not be the best guy in town but he will be worth talking to. Come back and talk to us and we can maybe recommend another couple more doctors who are experts in different treatment options. If you tell us the nearest big city to where you live we might be able to come up with some suggestions for doctors to talk to nearby.

Since you're near UMich, you could see Daniel Hamstra, an excellent radiation oncologist there.