Posted 12/15/2014 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
In my weekly meeting today with my RO, he said that he had proposed to the other doctors in his group that my seminal vesicle treatment be stopped at 70gy rather than 78gy. They all agreed with him. He proposed this to reduce radiation to the healthy surrounding tissue. The prostate would still get the 78gy. He said in cases where the risk of spread to the SV's is high they would dose the full 78gy but in my case since I had a negative SV biopsy, he thought it would be safe to administer the lower dose. He said that normally about 1 cm of the SV's are treated for all patients but usually stopped at 46gy. This is enough to kill the few cancer cells that might be present.
He acknowledges that even though I had 4 samples taken from the SV, all negative, the location of my cancer is very near the SV and it is certainly possible that some cancer cells could be in the SV. That is why he has treated 2cm and with 70gy. Under his proposal he would stop SV part of the treatment after day 35 rather than day 39. He said we would discuss it further as no decision is needed yet, but I'd be interested if any of you have an opinion on this. I got the impression it is my decision.