Adjuvant vs. Salvage Therapy: Gerald Chodak MD (video)

Dr. Chodak provides his views on recent studies about adjuvant (immediate) radiation vs. salvage (radiation given after PSA rises) in this video.

Updated Guide: How to Estimate Your Prostate Cancer Cure Odds

I have updated my guide "How to Estimate Your Prostate Cancer Cure Odds". It now has a new home on the HealthMad website at http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/how-to-estimate-your-prostate-cancer-cure-odds/.
I noticed lots of men and partners show up on discussion forums, newly diagnosed, desperate to find out what their survival time might be, or the chances of a cure. So I incorporated and explained the tools available from reputable sites to do that.

It is certainly possible to find out the long term probabilities, but the patient should bear in mind that the probabilities really apply to large groups of men, and cannot predict with certainty the outcome for any one individual.

(Photo credit: Lisa Brewster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophistechate used under Creative Commons license with appreciation )

Stand Up To Cancer - It's Up To You

update to my guide to salvage radiation

I have updated my one-page guide to salvage radiation, which encapsulates everything I have learned about the subject as a patient. I just now added links to two very useful articles about SRT--the recent PCRI Insights newsletter article ("Nine Decisions") which is written in a style and vocabulary that just about anybody should be able to read; and "Salvage Radiotherapy for Patients with PSA Relapse Following Radical Prostatectomy: Issues and Challenges" by Richard Choo of Mayo. Dr. Choo's article is a regular medical journal article meant for practitioners, but patients who have been researching the ins and outs of SRT should also find this article invaluable.
The full text of both articles is freely available.

To my U.S. readers--have a great Labor Day weekend!

Stand Up to Cancer

Thought for the Day

Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School British politician (1874 - 1965)

Thought for the Day

Here's to the doctors and their healing work
Here's to the loved ones in their care
Here's to the strangers on the streets tonight
Here's to the lonely everywhere

Here's to the wisdom from the mouths of babes
Here's to the lions in the cage
Here's to the struggles of the silent war
Here's to the closing of the age.

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin



                                                       - The Call, "Let the Day Begin"

(Photo credit: Jaqian.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaqian/85569793.  Used under Creative Commons license.)