Proton therapy for prostate cancer

Sorry to hear your news, but don't despair just yet  -- just prepare for doing a lot of research!  Your posting on this site is a good place to start.  PC is a slow progressing cancer and some men make the mistake of making a hasty decision that can lead to having a treatment path they later wish they had given more thought to.  You and your partner have time to talk to explore your options.

For myself, I was diagnosed at age 66.  I was in excellent health and went with prostetectomy (open surgery 15 months ago). The cancer was confined to the prostate with no seminal vesicle invasion and no PC in the lymph nodes.  My PSA is now zero and will be monitored yearly.  Fingers are crossed that it does not return.  I honestly do not think about it.  With the exception of slowly returning erectile function everything else is perfectly normal. I had no incontinence issues at all!  I was lucky in that regard.

Good luck!

I don't know anyone who has had proton but from reports seen it has very favourable outcomes. Not all prostate cancer are slow,so active monitoring is a must. I had mine at 55. That is eight yrs ago still slightly incontinent and erectile function poor. No cancer on current PSA reading. I had robotic prostate removal had to have left side nerves removed  at recommendation of surgeon. If sex is a big part of your life and the intimacy is important to your wife then go for newest treatment you can find that leave things intact. I know some people say things move on but you have to be honest about what you and your wife can live with. To some it's not the most important thing to others it's the core of who they are. 

It is always a shock to hear about cancer of any kind, and I know and feel your fear. I was diagnosed last year with early stage prostate cancer. My Gleason score was 6, PSA was 5.6. I had no symptoms other than elevated PSA. Biopsy showed 2 out of 12 samples contained cancer cells. Low amounts in the samples, 2% in one, 10% in the other. I was told I had many treatment options as you do too. I looked at them and tried to decide what treatement offered a good success rate and few side effects. I finally decided on Brachytherapy - low dose radiation seed implants. The low dose radiation means that it reduces the chance of damage to surrounding tissues like the bladder and colon. It is done as an outpatient procedure - takes about 45 minutes. You are anesthetized for the procedure. After about an hour in recovery, you can go home. I went for my 6 month follow up and my PSA was at 0.15 which my urologist said was very good for the 6 month period. It will be one year this month since I had the Brachytherapy. I am scheduled for my one year check up on the 22nd. At this point since the procedure - it is like nothing ever happened... not incontenance, not erectile disfunciton. All is working as it did before this whole thing happened. Explore your treatment options, but check out Brachytherapy. It has a good success rate. Just make sure what ever procedure you choose, the doctor has performed that treatment successfully many times. Good luck to you both. - Charles

Hi Ayjay, Has your partner had a mpMRI to see the extent of the PCa lesion(s). The biopsy may have found some of the PCa, but others could be lurking. Was his Gleason 3+4 or 4+3? I live in Australia and maybe a year or more before a proton machine and building appears due to the extreme building and machine costs. Some reports say proton therapy is good, others say the results are similar to EBRT, but 10 times the cost.. 

Geoff