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How effective can Chemotherapy get?

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Prostate Cancer
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Posted 1/6/2015 1:31 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not at the stage of requiring Chemo yet but I am researching it.

So far it appears to me that the treatment is purely palliative so I am curious if anyone has a chemotherapy success story.
Posted 1/6/2015 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
both HT and chemo treatments for PC are generally considered palliative, not curative. However, some men have been able to live for very long periods (years) with acceptable quality of life on them.

Andrew
Posted 1/6/2015 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
Not an answer to the question, really. What qualifies as success? At this site:

http://pcaexperience.info/category/chronology/

Bob Whitesell, an intelligent and educated patient, displays his disease history and treatments. He is four years out from his first Taxotere treatment and is continuing. Issues have accumulated, as one may expect. Still, for a man with a relatively short hormone sensitive period and an intact prostate and an aggressive disease this is a good result in my definition of good.
Posted 1/6/2015 7:24 PM (GMT 0)
Ronnie,

With your aggressive pathology, I'm surprised radiation wasn't begun immediately. They would give 2 months of triptorelin first, and the 2 months would be sufficient for the tissues to heal. That would have allowed for radiation by August 2014. Was there something else going on that precluded earlier treatment?

However, with macroscopic tumors throughout the region, and your PSA remaining detectable while on HT, I agree with you that it may be too late for radiation to be curative. There may be some value in de-bulking the tumor with radiation anyway.

I don't think anyone will give you chemo before distant mets are discovered, or if there is evidence of castration-resistance, unless you get it as part of a clinical trial.

- Allen

Post Edited (Tall Allen) : 1/6/2015 12:54:34 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/6/2015 7:37 PM (GMT 0)
Ronnie,
I don't have anything to add to your question but I just wanted to wish you well.
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