RALP or Radiation? CA/WA surgeons?

Excellent advise above, KB. You are asking the right questions and will be visiting excellent physicians.

In talking to RO's, discuss their techniques for ADT. It's usually not a topic they voluntarily bring up, and it causes more side effects that either surgery or straight radiation. BTW, the aforementioned RO, Dr. King at UCLA, is tops.

While surgery is no 'gold standard, Dr. Patrick Walsh's well balanced text, 'Surviving Prostate Cancer, 4th Edition', certainly is. I've had both surgery and radiation, and his book, some call the Prostate Bible, explores both in scientific detail..

IMO, this is in stark contrast to Dr. Scholz' (phrase deleted) books, 'Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers' and 'The Key to Prostate Cancer'. (sentences deleted)

Good luck on your journey.

Gary, I edited your post a bit and ask that you re-phrase if you want to make your point (although KB probably already saw it and your point was made). Our site owner recently received a "cease and desist" order and threat to sue from a doctor who felt disparaged on the HW site. It was on another forum but the moderators have been asked to be particularly sensitive to criticism about specific doctors. Trust you understand. Thanks, Jim

Post Edited By Moderator (Tudpock18) : 11/21/2019 2:36:08 PM (GMT-7)

Hey all,
Very thoughtful replies in nearly every instance. It's not natural for me the make quick decisions - in fact it is usually the opposite. What is different this time is the sense of urgency, of my own doing (research and several friends who waited too long on PCa)... more so than the URO surgeon. The advice I got from the URO is to do something in the next 3-6 months - either RT or RALP. So taking more time to get all advice from the two most utilized therapies makes perfect sense.

I await a call back from Chris King about the RT option and specifically his thoughts on my present urinary flow issues, size of prostate and implications of RT both short and long term.

fiddlecanoe said...
If you don't like ED, think carefully about surgery. If evidence points strongly to the cancer being organ contained, the doc does not need to cut as wide and the nerves that control erections are more likely to survive. But if there is a chance that the cancer has escaped, odds of ED increase, and radiation makes more sense.

My MRI showed it was completely organ confined. During RALP they don't wake you up to advise you that they made a mistake. If it spreads into the nerves, the nerves are coming out.