Has salvage radiation worked for you?

Did you have salvage radiation for a rising PSA, post-prostatectomy, years ago and are still free from progression?

I have for the past couple of years, scoured the Internet in hopes of coming across individuals who, after having salvage radiation after prostatectomy, have had no signs of cancer (i.e. they are progression-free) for several years.

I have found people who had salvage radiation a couple of years ago, and on a Google prostate cancer group, I think I read the story of someone who was 4 years out from SRT, with PSA still undetectable.

I am following the cases of several guys on HealingWell.com who are having SRT now, or who recently finished (within the last 24 months).

I know from stats that there must be some folks out there who had their PSA rise after surgery, then had radiation, and who are still free from PSA progression 5 or more years later. Are you one of those people, or do you know one?

If so, add a comment here. I'd like to hear your story, and so would visitors to the blog.

I do moderate the comments, so you won't see your message until I have a chance to review it. Keeping the spammers at bay, you know.

Problem resolved

Sorry about the hijacked blog. A widget I had installed, a chess challenge, was apparently the culprit. I've deleted it and it seems to have fixed the problem.

NYT: Results Unproven, Robotic Surgery Wins Converts

Results Unproven, Robotic Surgery Wins Converts

By GINA KOLATA

Published: February 14, 2010

Robot-assisted prostate cancer surgery makes sense in some ways, but it is not clear if its outcomes are better.

At age 42, Dr. Jeffrey A. Cadeddu felt like a dinosaur in urologic surgery. He was trained to take out cancerous prostates the traditional laparoscopic way: making small incisions in the abdomen and inserting tools with his own hands to slice out the organ.

But now, patient after patient was walking away. They did not want that kind of surgery. They wanted surgery by a robot, controlled by a physician not necessarily even in the operating room, face buried in a console, working the robot’s arms with remote controls...

Full text after the jump here.

blood donation

I gave blood yesterday for the first time in years.

The American Red Cross now allows prostate cancer patients to donate if it has been at least a year since treatment, and there is no sign of recurrence. The same holds true for most other cancers.

This is a change from past rules, which said it had to be five years.

If you can help Tim Johnson...

I have been in contact with the family. If you would like to give by PayPal or by mail, I have that information. Email me at galileo1962@cox.net .

If we all give a little, we can help a lot. In the last month, 465 of you visited my little blog here. You came from 46 states and 55 countries. Can you imagine the impact, if just half of you threw $10 Tim's way?

In case you're wondering, I don't know Tim or anyone in his family (or town, for that matter). I read his story this morning, following a link on prostatecancerinfolink.net.

Let's see what the power of the blogosphere can do.

Whatever you're doing right now...

I urge you to stop what you're doing now, go to this news story, and ask yourself what you can do to help this guy with advanced prostate cancer. We can't do everything, but we can all do a little. We're all brothers in this fight, right? Let's all do a little to help, and combined, that will mean a lot.
Tim's Story

Salvage RT and ADT Compared: Study

Researchers in South Korea have found that when PSA rises after prostatectomy, treating men first with salvage radiation and then hormone therapy later, if needed, controls PSA in most cases and slows clinical progression, compared to hormone therapy alone.

49% of the patients failed salvage radiation during the study, after an average of 30.7 months. Those patients were then put on ADT. 14% of those patients successfully controlled their PSA with ADT for 20.7 months, leaving 86% who controlled their PSA for over 3 years.

Fast doubling times (less than 3 months) were predictive of RT failure.

Treatment failure and clinical progression after salvage therapy in men with biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy: radiotherapy vs androgen deprivation.

Song C, Kim YS, Hong JH, Kim CS, Ahn H.

Departments of Urology and Radiation Oncology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.

This is personally troubling to me on a couple of points--first, my doubling time was very fast--well under 90 days. Secondly, this study reinforces my belief that I'm far from out of the woods. I'm a little under three years out from the end of salvage radiation, just about the point, on average, where men who fail RT see their PSA rise again. Obviously, I need to keep monitoring my PSA. If it begins to rise and the doubling time is as fast as it was before treatment, I should probably not delay hormone therapy.