There's a bit—an important bit—of mischaracterization going on in this thread which I would like to clear up...not only for the participants in THIS current dialogue, but also for those who may read this thread in the future and get confused about
the terminology used.
I think that words are important, and using the correct words is important; conversely, the incorrect words can be misleading, to yourself or to others. It could be easy for readers to brush-it-off by saying,
"Oh, I know what he meant," but that's not helpful to our lurkers, newcomers or future-readers-of-this-thread.
Here's the two comments that are at issue:
- bdubs60647 wrote: " chose Focal HIFU treatment ...Treatment was on 5/5/2017" and then later wrote "I remain on Active Surveillance."
- Justin Utherguy, contributor to this thread, wrote in another recent thread (with a less specific Subject): "I had HIFU ablation... They both recommended active surveillance" [for his follow-up]
The issue here is misuse of the term "Active Surveillance." There is an excellent commentary on the importance of proper use of vocabulary in this site's "Newly diagnosed with PC? -- read this thread first" sticky thread, and it contains a very useful definition of AS (particularly as it contrasts to "watchful waiting").
HIFU is a treatment. It is, in fact, a very active treatment (albeit less invasive than surgery) which destroys body tissue with ultrasound that generates heat...it uses a targeting scheme to try to just destroy cancer tissue, although the well-understood trade-off is whether it destroyed all the cancer tissue, and how much non-cancerous tissue was also destroyed. Sometimes (frequently), additional
secondary treatment(s) are needed (either additional HIFU, or salvage surgery or salvage radiation) when persistent PC is found based on subsequent monitoring. The "subsequent monitoring for recurrence" is necessary and appropriate after HIFU just as it is after each and every other type of treatment. Main point: HIFU is an active treatment.
By contrast, Active Surveillance is a decision to not pursue active treatment, and to defer possible primary treatment to a later time when it may be deemed necessary or appropriate based, again, on actively monitoring changes to PC risk status. In many cases, active treatment (and it's accompanying side effects) are forever avoided.
More specifically to the two quoted statements above, one does not decide to undergo treatment (such as HIFU, or surgery, or radiation), and THEN follow up with Active Surveillance after treatment. It's an either/or. If one decides to undergo treatments, then close monitoring for recurrence is ALWAYS prescribed afterwards...but that close monitoring is NOT "Active Surveillance."
So again, when reading these comments, those who recognize this mischaracterization could just say,
"Well, he said 'Active Surveillance' after HIFU, but what he really meant was "monitoring for recurrence" and understood what he meant to properly say," but ignoring it risks possible confusion by other less-informed site visitors in the future.
Hope that helps...
Post Edited (Blackjack) : 2/8/2019 11:33:33 AM (GMT-7)