small cell prostate cancer

he was diagnosed after TURP surgery where they send a sample to phatology. but had been suffering from all the symptoms for a long time. but refused to do biobsy. so they treated him with hormone therapy and now realiezed that its this rare cancer. they are suggesting chemo but i dont know if that is somehting that is good for a 85 year old man ?

Usual chemo and radiation do not work well with the small cell type. In Japan, they have been mixing different drugs in the chemo with some success. Did they say what is prognosis is, if left untreated? I think the small cell prostate cancer is a very aggressive type, and if he has had it for some time, and probably his age makes surgery impossible, maybe it becomes palliative care.

We are seeing his oncologist on Tuesday again he is going to tell us what he things after talking to people at John Hopkins and MD anderson. He seemed to thind that CHEMo could help with pain and there is a new treatment when he explained it all went over my head. platinum base someting or another . 

I Just DON"T WANT HIM TO SUFFER. what is your experince with this cancer ? you are god sent to me as i have no one to talk to.

I am not a doctor and I have no experience with this cancer, other than my lay research. As part of my own investigations when I had a PSA spike, I still spend considerable time researching PCa issues. Small Cell prostate cancer came on my radar when I read that this form of cancer is very rare, has virtually no PSA signature, very aggressive and most men who have this form, survivability is 12 months from diagnosis. As for the use of platinum...I have provided an extract from some 2017 information..

"Patients presenting with de novo pure small cell carcinoma arising from the prostate gland, a rare entity observed in approximately 1% of all prostate cancer cases, should be treated with a platinum plus etoposide combination similar to the treatment for small cell lung cancer." It will not cure him, but possibly extend his life.

Your specialist doctor is the best person to advise on treatments and more specifically what palliative care can be provided if required. My father in law died from prostate cancer. His death was very quick. Up until the last 24 hours, he was fine and at home doing normal things. Then in the night, he had what appeared to be a stroke and he was gone. Turns out some of the prostate cancer had lodged in his brain. 

Dear geo, 

thank you so much for your reply. I too had found that same article and many more and read all of them. in some way i wish somehting would happen where he would dies quickly :-( and not suffer.  did your father inlaw get chemo ? was he doing ok till the end ? and not in pain ? 

I am sorry for so many questions but you are so kind to answer and it helps me to have this disucssion with someone. 

Thank you 

Hi titi,

Great you have been reading about the various options, though for small cell prostate cancer, there is not much good news.

The important thing is for your father to be as well as possible with no pain for as long as possible. Being pain free depends on where the cancer attacks. 

My father in law had no pain at all. One night he went to sleep, woke up in the middle of the night and said to his wife he has a headache and could not talk properly. By the time she returned 5 minutes later with some aspirin, he had gone. He had no chemo. He had the standard prostate cancer, which was found it when it was already stage 4 and he refused any treatment.

Geoff

Thank you geof, 

as harsh as it may sound that would be a great way to go for my dad or anybody.  my dads cancer is in his bones so my delima is if we don't do treatment how bad will it get :-( should kow more after the doc appt on Tuesday. 

thank you again for all your kind words. 

xo

In Australia, the doctors use radiation to reduce pain for bone hot spots.