Intermittent Ht

My husband started HT in June. His PSA has gone from 3.4 to 0.3. In 7 mos.
The oncologist wants to do intermittent hormonal therapy and thinks that the seven months of HT will be enough, and he can take a break from the Ht . From what I have read anything under eight months of HT is not sufficient.I think that one more round of three months Zoladex to hopefully bring his PSA to less than .1 would be better.
He is tolerating the hormone therapy fairly well mainly hot flashes and is now starting to have some joint pain. If extending the HT will extend a relapse I'm all for it but then I'm not the one on the HT. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Happy holidays to everyone, love and good health to all
Lin

L Sil,

Intermittent ADT is not yet a particularly exact science. Different men react differently and oncologists tend to have their own rules for how it is to be applied. You are likely to get different answers from us, too. I have no particular opinion. Gleason 7(4+3) is potentially fairly aggressive and I can see wanting to be aggressive in treating it, but like I said, different oncologists have different theories.

I glanced back over some of your other posts and I may have missed the part where your husband and his doctors ruled out the possibility of salvage RT. If there is any radiation in his recent past or near future then the rules for the hormones are different. Found where you talked about his SRT.

JNF:

From one of her earlier posts:

her signature said...
Dx Jan 2011 PSA4.4 age58
Biopsy 30% in left lobe and apex
Davinci rp 2/26/11
No lymph / seminal
<0.1mm pos margin
PSA Posr rp. 02 ,<0.1, <0.1, <0.1
Jan 2012 PSA 0.1, 0.14, 0.27
T3ca
G 7 4+3

From an older post, he had SRT at least a year ago.

Lin,

Just sharing what we've heard from our oncologist. My father is on IHT since 2011. His Gleason is 7, (3+4), but the last scan a month ago showed two rather large clusters in his left pelvic lymph nodes. So, his suggestion: at least 12 months of ADT3 (triple blockade), with Trelstar, Casodex and Avodart.

The advantages of ADT3 over ADT2 or just mono-therapy are debated among oncologists. We were convinced that having it last for at least 12 months is the best way to go, hoping for a few years off-therapy. Dr. Charles Meyers has written that in his experience, it takes at least 9 months for the maximum number of cells to be killed by HT, especially in cases of recurrent and aggressive cancers.

Arthur

Sorry I thought his signature would post. here it is

Does Avodart have the same side effects as HT ?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dx Jan 2011 PSA4.4 age58
Biopsy 30% in left lobe and apex
Davinci RP 2/26/11 Nerve Sparing
No lymp / seminal
<0.1mm pos margin
PSA Post RP. 0.02 ,<0.1, <0.1, <0.1
Jan 2012 PSA 0.1, 0.14, 0.27
T3ca
G 7 4+3
Srt 7 wks to prostate bed July 2012 PSA 0.27
Sept PSA 0.1
March 2013 PSA Starts rising , 3 mo doubling time
Starts degarelix 6/12 PSA 3.3 drops to 0.8 in 1 mo
Zolodex 3 mo injections (2x) PSA 0.3

I have 0 side effects due to Avodart....that I know of...