Posted 4/19/2018 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
Hi-
I believe Provenge is a good addition to any other treatments you may be getting for PCa. Especially if you get it at an early stage of the disease. It is hard to say if you will see direct effect of the treatment- literature says no for the most part- but my PSA slowed and dropped a bit as I went through the treatments, but that could have been some long term effects from RT I received 3 months earlier- you may only know a benefit by increased survival time.
the most recent publications highlight the real-world outcomes of Provenge treatment through the required PROCEED registry database. Analysis of this was presented in 2017 (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170513005019/en/Dendreon-Announces-Results-New-PROCEED-Registry-Analysis).
I had my treatments last August. Hydrate well if you do not have good veins to start. They will place 14g needles in both arms to harvest your cells. Wear the adult diaper in case you need to void during the cell harvest, those needles are short and only held in by tape- moving around is risky- takes about 4 hours to collect your cells. You do not want any interruptions in cell collection.
Infusion is relatively quick- normal size IV needles as well; you may have a reaction-
I did on 2nd and 3rd infusions- violent shivering- a few doses of demerol controlled that-
I believe I now have a better immune system against PCa- so any disruption of PCa tumors by future therapies may help relieve immunosuppression known to be in tumor environments, allowing those Provenge activated T-cells in the wings to work even better- hope is a remarkable therapy.
I think it is very much worthwhile- good for you that you are accessing this therapy
good luck to you
rf