Decision to be made..Salvage radiation??

Good morning,

I had a full radical prostectomy in November 2010. Since then my Ultra sensitive PSA #'s have been rising. In over 4 1/2 years it is now 0.23.

It seems 0.20 is the decision point to do the 35 treatments of salvage radiation therapy.

I am seeing the head of Radiation Oncology at Ceders in Beverly Hills and he says it is my choice. The #'s have been rising VERY slowly. about 4/100reds of a point every 3-4 months. This could level off or continue. No crystal ball of course.

If I have the treatments it probably would be at Scripps in San Diego as it is as highly rated as Ceders and much closer in time for me.

Has anyone had any background with this? Side effects? Results? Opinions and why please.

A choice I do not take lightly. I will be 66 in October and am in very good health except for this.

Thanks for any replies.

.2 is the traditional trigger point for SRT.

If the remaining PC is in the prostate bed, the results should be good. Hard to say, but it's possible it will knock out whatever is left.

Side effects aren't that bad, there are bowel issues, fatigue, urgency and in some cases mild ED.

It's a difficult choice.

Andrew

Similar situation to yours, had the surgery, had zero readings for a year or so, then the slight rise. Oncologist felt it was still in the prostate bed so I had 40 treatments starting last December. Only side effect I had was at about the 30th treatment I became a little fatigued during the latter part of the day. Nothing else. Actually was the most enjoyable 20 minutes of my day. Actual treatment only takes a couple of minutes.

Going to start Radiation treatment this month, had Robotic removal in 2011, was a T2c, post op was a 3 +4, pre op PSA 4.9., 6% cancer in prostate, removed one lymp node, had slow rise of psa after 2 yrs, from ,02, .04, .17, 1.17 in June of this year, MRI was clear, Bone scan was clear, had a small cyst on hip bone, not cancerous from Cat Scan, from an old injury.Oncologist hoping tissue left in prostate bed, Hoping it catches it.........72 years old and great health here.....