That I fully agree with. You could put Lebowitz, Scholz, Meyers, Strum on the same case and get more opinions than doctors. The key is having an oncologist versed in many protocols and armed with an
open mind. LHRH agonists, 5-AR inhibitors, anti-androgens, Keto, Nilandron, DES, Abiraterone, etc. are all hormonal therapies. Once they fail, then Docetaxyl chemo therapy, perhaps with Provenge, Satraplatin, MDV3100, and many other experimentals, may eventually be used, sometimes re-establishing the effectiveness of the HT drugs. Thus making a complex set of combinations that could work well for a patient.
Provenge is a bit tricky, but Provenge ventures into the bodies own immune system and is personalized in every case to the patient. Blood is drawn, cancer cells, white blood cells and antibodies are extracted and processed into a therapy concoction that is then re-introduced into the patient in hope of jump starting an effective immune system response to the cancer. During an interview with Dendreon, and a marketing firm, I was told about
how difficult it is to make Provenge. Right now only one Dendreon facility is able to do it. Anybody that was in the study had to come in several times over many weeks to receive the doses. The samples all had to be flown back to the lab and processed, then flown back to the center administering it.
www.dendreon.com/pipeline/sipuleucel_t/Many of the top oncologists are hopeful to use it before the disease becomes refractory to see it's benefits there as well. I have a Leibowitz video where he expressly believes that using it on HRPC cancer after failed chemo is the primary reason that it added only 4 months (average) to the lives of the trial patients. Like Abiraterone, he would like to see the drug used earlier in the treatment phases. He will get his chance soon enough.
Tony