Helping a Friend Decide PC Treatment

All,

I had prostate cancer surgery (Di Vinci) 18 months ago with very good results.  A close friend was recently diagnoised with PC and is having a tough time deciding on treatment. 

He was set on surgery then met with a Radiation Oncologist and is now undecided.  He's concerns are with post surgery side affects; impotence & incontinence.

I explained my decision process which helps but I can't speak to radiation or seeds from personal experience.

Please share your  thoughts, insight, experience in this area.

I'm 58 (surgery at 56), he's 61.

thanks

rick

 

The ACS has a decision tool that guides the patient through the various options. The patient inputs their Gleason, PSA, age, and a lot of other individual data points and the tool guides them on a process (without making a decision for them) and gives them talking points to print out and take with them to their doctor's office. It links to relevant recent abstracts of studies. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/eto/meta/meta_profilers.asp?CB=265

I'm not saying its the end-all and be-all of the process, but it could help. Also, Walsh's book is a good foundation and for something very quick, Paul Lange's Prostate Cancer for Dummies can sketch out the more popular choices.

just my 2 cents.

It will make a lot of difference to consider the number of positive biopsy cores. 3+4 was presented to me as borderline to require surgery. But, if it was one core of 24, it could be much less significant than 9 of 12 -
That was what pushed me to surgery instead of radiation.
As we say often here - the surgeon sells surgery, the rad. oncologist sells radiation. I had the same experience - convinced for DaVinci, then considered radiation. But the success numbers of radiation for my profile were only 70%, so I went DaVinci.

I suspect you need more information at this point.