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Has anybody tried carbon ion therapy?

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Prostate Cancer
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Posted 1/4/2017 1:52 PM (GMT 0)
Our doc is recommending adding on radiation to our current HT plan. He's even mentioned the hopeful words "possibly curative intent"... Am from Singapore and SBRT is the latest available here but we have also been reading about carbon ion therapy which is available in Japan (https://prostatecancerinfolink.net/2015/10/10/carbon-ion-radiation-therapy-for-prostate-cancer/) and very amazingly, insurance will cover us there.

Just wondering if anyone on this forum has tried carbon ion therapy anywhere or has any thoughts about this path vs. SBRT?

Thanks!
Posted 1/4/2017 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
Would the proposed radiation be focused on the metastases?
I believe (!) that Tall Allen has argued in another thread that this isn't useful (by lack of a better word) because new metastases are likely to crop up. Another person on this forum has argued that such radiation sometimes (!) can be useful.
Sorry if I misrepresent these contributors.

What is your husband's doctor thinking?
Posted 1/4/2017 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
Angsty -

It may be useful to treat the prostate with radiation - carbon ion is a good choice for doing that, as is surgery or SBRT or IMRT. This is called "cytoreduction or debulking". There is some early evidence that getting rid of the source of the cancer might slow progression (not cure it). And while they are doing that, they can also treat the pelvic met. But once the cancer has traveled to distant places (like the lungs and pelvis), it means that there is cancer in systemic circulation with many thousands of micrometastases too small to see with any scan. There is no known way to cure that.

I didn't know that Japan allowed non-citizens to use their carbon ion cyclotron, but I'm glad to hear they do. Please let us know how it goes - you are the first on this site who would be getting it, as far as I can recall.

- Allen
Posted 1/5/2017 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks both. The doctor did tell us the radiation path was controversial but I think the proposal was because the so-called Mets in lungs were never really proven ( the doc at the time couldn't tell if it was Mets or patchy scarring) and if we exclude those then the only other met that has been present is a spot on his left ischium. It sounds like regardless, debunking might be a good idea for lasting control. I will write a post on our experiences for Japan. So far we are just at the stage of sending our documents over do they can review our case but nothing appears to indicate that they will reject us for not being Japanese. Keep you posted!
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