Do you know what sort of treatments his doctors are considering? Conventionally, the development of metastases marked the dividing line between disease that was amenable to cure (no mets) and disease that would simply need to be managed (metastatic disease). But recent research has been suggesting that the dividing line is not as simple as that and that men with a few metastases might benefit from more aggressive treatments. The sort of disease that might respond to such treatments is called oligometastatic disease. (The prefix "oligo" means few, thus oligarchy is "rule of the few" and oligomatastatic disease is cancer with a
few metastases.)
If the spot on Sam's pelvis is confirmed as a metastasis then he still might qualify for some of the clinical trials for aggressive treatments of oligometastatic disease. You might talk to his oncologist about
some of the trials and whether he might qualify. There is a phase I trial that is currently recruiting for treating oligometastatic prostate cancer (among other cancers) with SBRT radiation -- a relatively new form of radiation treatment that seems to work well, is well tolerated and requires fewer sessions.
Just something to talk to his doctors about
. It's only one of several trials that are ongoing. It's the one that caught my eye. Here's a link:
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer, Non-small Cell Lung Cancer, or Prostate Cancer