Plan B: dashed or still ok?

I wish I could help but my knowledge of urinary issues is limited. The Greenlight procedure and Urolift are directed at BPH treatment so the first question is whether it worked or not? After that, treating the cancer is separate issue other than a side effect can be urinary difficulties. I am assuming your urologist has a similar radiation plan for addressing the cancer after Urolift. If not, I am not sure thinking was.

My guess is that the median lobe tends to cause BPH issues so if it was not there, trying to remove it would not solve the problem so another approach was preferred? You can always visit another urologist and get an opinion on what was done and where to go next. Sorry for lack of real help on my part.

So you’ve had the urolift? And it worked? Excellent.

I would say that you’re set for the radiation phase of the treatment. You’ve headed off the possible LUTS at the pass, so to speak. The urolift is a lot less traumatic on the prostate than the greenlight, TURP, etc. A few small holes versus an extensive surface that is left raw to heal. Brachy OK following. Full speed ahead.

Here's the nice thing about RT: It treats a somewhat wider area than surgery, so if any of the little buggers have moved out of the prostate, the RT will get them anyway.

Do you have BPH? I don't see in your history. Unless you have your mind made up and know you don't want an RP, it's a great option for BPH men who have a cancer diagnosis. RT may do nothing for BPH, and prostate tissue can regrow after BPH treatments (mine did). I would have paid a lot to know I would eventual have prostate cancer at the time of my TURP for BPH--one operation, a RP, to treat two conditions!

Djin

groundhogy said...
...Does they body have any function that will pick up these cells or debris and move them to the trash bin (lymph)?...

Men newly diagnoses are understandably concerned with cancer cells "escaping" from the prostate. However, it's not rare for circulating tumor cells (CTS) to occur. Fortunately, it is extremely difficult for these rogue prostate cells to gain the ability to establish themselves and grow in other organs or tissue as a metastasis--it can take years for this process to happen, especially in those men whose cancer is genetically predisposed toward metastases.

You can have your biopsy tissue (or your post-RP tissue if your choose surgery) tested to see if you are low-, average- or high-risk for metastases within 5 years of the time the tissue was taken. The more popular tests, and those more likely to be covered by insurance, are Decipher, OncotypeDx, and Prolaris. (Depending on your risk category, your insurance may cover a genomic test test.)

The conventional wisdom had been that metastasis risk was proportional to one's Gleason score. Genomic-testing results have shown that met risk cuts across all Gleason scores. For example, I had a G 9 (4+5) staging, but tested low risk; about 10% of confirmed G6 (3+3) men test high risk for mets (meaning not that G6 can itself metastasize, but that they are high risk for developing higher-grade lesions that can metastasize.) What does change is that the percentages of men in the low-, average-, and high- risk categories shifts toward high risk as the Gleason score increases, as you would expect.

Post Edited (DjinTonic) : 6/13/2022 1:48:49 PM (GMT-6)