PCa and HPV

Here is the 'conclusion' copied from the abstract

The meta-analysis suggested that HPV infection is associated with increasing risk of PCa, which indicated a potential pathogenetic link between HPV and PCa.

I wouldn't want to be vaccinated on that basis...

Post Edited (Sr Sailor) : 2/21/2019 6:04:27 PM (GMT-7)

2019Guy said...
My cancer in 09 was found to have been caused by the HPV 16 virus.

The article... a typical "study of studies" doesn't really present much to cement a relationship between PCa and HPV, at least not that I can see. Frankly the majority of male HPV related H&N cancers seem to be caused cunnilingus.

But BIG congratulations are in order for you having beat your P16+ H&N cancer. You don't give many details, but I know it can be a tremendous ordeal. Presumably your IMRT included the mask and possibly cisplatin (though you don't mention it).

Personally I had a close encounter with base of tongue SCC just after completing IMRT for PCa. Pretty scary stuff. PEG tube, glossectomy... all were a possibility. Fortunately it turned out to be something that could be treated with a few months on oral medication. Whew!

But for you sir, my hat is off to you for everything you must have gone thru. And good luck with your prostate cancer also, whatever direction it takes you. You are a true warrior... Head & Neck Cancer Warriors & Survivors Support Society

Thanks so much, RL and SS. I put up the link just for informational purposes, and as a distinctly non-scientist. I'm sure if there were ever be discovered to be a direct connection between HPV and PCa it would be all over the news.

Yeah, HPV 16 and what caused it... agreed. My misspent youth, what can I say? Thankfully, as I'm sure most of the astute guys on this forum know, HPV is in 99 point quite a bit of the time percent sloughed off by the body and never gives anyone any trouble. It's that darned point-whatever percent!

But more importantly RobLee, I'm VERY glad to read that your H&N issue was just a scare! (and thanks for the link, I'll look forward to exploring it) Yes to the mask - ugh - but thankfully I had no extracapsular spread, so no cisplatin or any other chemo. Radiation to that part of the body hits so many vital areas that long term SEs are unavoidable. Then there's the reasonably recent diagnosis of Radiation Fibrosis Syndrome, which I didn't find out about until a couple of years ago. I wonder if you or any of our other brothers here are suffering from it?

The radical neck dissection and aftermath were challenging I will admit. Something happened during recovery when I was blissfully asleep that caused my neck to swell and cut off my breathing. (although a nurse later told me I spoke with her and even cracked a joke; on a side note she was likely the one who inserted my catheter, and of course was young and beautiful and I a 55 year-old guy who looked about as bad as you can look at that point, to say nothing of "shrinkage"... thank you, Seinfeld) So they rushed me back into the OR, grabbed a handy plastic surgeon and did an emergency tracheotomy. That will definitely get your attention when you wake up hours later after what should have been a serious but not-usually-life-threatening operation followed by a one-night hospital stay. I was in the ICU for 5 days and another 6 in a room.

YET. Whatever I went through was NOTHING compared to what I call the Real Heroes' ordeals, this from the Oral Cancer Foundation forum I've belonged to since. I'm talking people who've had their tongues, jaws and even vocal cords removed. There are people whose mouths can't open wide enough to eat or drink and take all their nutrition from a PEG tube: forever. I get tears in my eyes just thinking of these folks and how incredibly brave they are.

Onward!

Post Edited (2019Guy) : 2/22/2019 2:38:13 PM (GMT-7)

2019Guy said...
Yeah, HPV 16 and what caused it... agreed. My misspent youth, what can I say?

Yeah, I got mine the old fashioned way also. Wife and I met in 1980, married in 81, and in 82 I had neck dissection and submandibular sialoadenectomy... several revision surgeries and lots of antibiotics over the following years, but no chemorad, fortunately.

But I have had, for nearly four decades, chronic dry mouth due to the removal of salivary glands... tooth loss and resulting poor dentition, despite dental checkups every three months, Rx toothpaste, fluoride trays and special mouthwashes. Typically reserved for those who received H&N rad or have Sjögren's syndrome.

2019Guy said...
Radiation to that part of the body hits so many vital areas that long term SEs are unavoidable. Then there's the reasonably recent diagnosis of Radiation Fibrosis Syndrome, which I didn't find out about until a couple of years ago.

I've not heard of that, but again, I am fortunate to have not endured "true" oral cancer. Just within the past six months I learned about sclerosing mesenteritis, following a bowel resection last October. And now something called "BAM" for bile acid malabsorpton following the surgery. It seems that with each step we learn about something else so obscure that even many medical professionals have never heard of it.

2019Guy said...
The radical neck dissection and aftermath were challenging I will admit... an emergency tracheotomy. That will definitely get your attention when you wake up hours later after what should have been a serious but not-usually-life-threatening operation followed by a one-night hospital stay. I was in the ICU for 5 days and another 6 in a room.

Emergency trach would indeed be scary, and being stuck in a hospital for anything more than a week would have me going stir crazy. I'm glad you survived all of that, and lived long enough yet to endure (drum roll) prostate cancer. Something tells me the "ride" is just getting started.

2019Guy said...
YET. Whatever I went through was NOTHING compared to what I call the Real Heroes' ordeals, this from the Oral Cancer Foundation forum I've belonged to since. I'm talking people who've had their tongues, jaws and even vocal cords removed. There are people whose mouths can't open wide enough to eat or drink and take all their nutrition from a PEG tube: forever. I get tears in my eyes just thinking of these folks and how incredibly brave they are.

Yeah, those who have had everything MUCH worse than most of us could have ever imagined are like a beacon of hope. No matter how bad we have it, I for one still have two of most everything, and most of them still work. I may complain about my teeth falling out, but know there are those who had to have an entire jaw reconstruction using part of their fibula. It is amazing what science can do these days. Which makes it even more frustrating wondering why they can still fax MRI results to the wrong doctor.