Selecting a doctor

Yeah, it would be a big help to know what area you are living in and/or seeking names. Are you looking for another urologist, a surgeon, radiation oncologist, or oncologist, or all of the above?

david

That is good advice, getting that 2nd opinion. You are fortunate to live in an area with an abundance of great doctors and hospitals. What was you PSA at the time of your diagnosis?

On the surface, you should have the full spectrum of treatment choices, including surgery, regular radiation, radiation seeds, etc. Or you might be suitable for AS, and not have to even make an immediate treatment choice.

Please keep us posted.

David

Thank you 1370. Mass General is one that we have been looking at.

My PSA scores are as follows: December 2010 = 4.96, January 2011 = 4.51, March 2011 = 4.58, and after the biopsy was 1.68 in July 2011. My testosterone numbers had crashed so my Urologist had me on Testim and then on shots to boost the numbers. The last PSA, the 1.68 score, was taken after I was off the hormone treatment.

Hi Jim,

While not in your backyard, Johns Hopkins is probably the world's most renowned urological treatment center. As you become more educated about PC, you will hear the name Dr Jon Epstein (from JHU) as one of the top (certainly among the top-3) prostate-specialist pathologists.

From what you've posted so far, one of Epstein's comments may relate to you: "Patients need to be advised and to understand, when told that they have Gleason 6 disease, based on a biopsy or a radical prostatectomy specimen, that for all intents and purposes they have been diagnosed with the lowest grade of prostate cancer possible."

So, one question to address before pursuing aggressive treatment is whether treatment is needed at all. Some men with biopsy-verified low-risk PC (like you) participated in a study where half the group made changes in diet, exercise and stress reduction, and the other half did nothing for the period of one year. The "control group" that did nothing had predictable slow PSA rise, and the PSA of the "study group" went down. I encourage you to learn as much as you can about PC before pulling any triggers.  The study I mentioned might be worth looking in to...here's the link to the easy-to-read article: LINK

edit:  fixed typos

 

Post Edited (Casey59) : 3/5/2012 12:50:12 PM (GMT-7)

You are in a position to take your time and research all options. You may well be eligible for AS and avoid the damage and side effects of conventional treatment. Also take a look at the Dana Farber Center in Bostonl.