Cryotherapy, anyone?

stevaphoto · New User Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Dallas, TX

Has anyone had cryotherapy recently, and be willing to share their experiences? I am 52, newly diagnosed about a month ago. PSA was 7, and 3 biopsy samples were positive - one with gleason 7, the other 2 were gleason 6. An MRI does not show any rupture beyond the prostate wall, but does indicate a signal strength consistent with a malignancy on both the right and left sides of my prostate.

I am very concerned about treatment choices. Quite frankly, a radical prostatectomy scares the crap out of me because of the risks of impotency and incontinence. These risks with Brachytherapy seem to be much less, and apparently there have been great strides in this seed implant treatment within the past 10 years. So I'm currently leaning toward brachytherapy. I'd like to learn more about cryotherapy though. I seem to be finding conflicting information on it's track record on impotency and incontinence. Can anyone help with some information or personal experience? Would also welcome any anecdotal information on brachytherapy...

Thanks,
Steve
_________________
steve
dallas, tx

johnw100 · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:39 am Post subject: Cryotherapy, anyone?

Steve,

I always suggest reading of the book, "Prostate cancer prevention and cure" by Lee Nelson.

He rightly says choice of the surgeon is most improtant, regardless of the treatment selected.

On cryotherapy he said, "If it wre me, I would only consider cryosurgery at Crittendon. Period. And I would insist on Dr Lee or Dr Bahn, personally." He also questined whether it was covered by insurance (at the time of writing.)

A good website is www.yananow.net which has experiences of a lot of men who have used various treatments.

Personally I have only used lifestyle, diet and supplement changes to date with good results, which is a logical suggestion regardless of what else one might choose to do.

John

harvxyz · New User Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 5

Steve,

I'm interested in what you decided, why, and your current situation.

I'm recently diagnosed and my urologist is suggesting cryo even though clearly saying it's my decision.

Marc

stevaphoto · New User Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Dallas, TX

Marc,

I'll just tell you my experience. My research regarding cryotherapy was inconclusive, but your conclusion may vary. You might ask your doc to share some recent statistics with you from several clinics. Apparently there have been great strides made in cryotherapy in recent years so I don't make any judgments.

I ultimately decided to go with what was available to me locally - convenience was definately a factor to me. Baylor Hospital in Dallas is 10 minutes away from me... I also heard good things about a facility in Arlington, Tx. for cryotherapy, but I didn't investigate. I decided on a combination of radiation treatments recommended by my Baylor oncologist - both external beam and finally brachytherapy, with some hormone therapy thrown it.

In a nutshell: in September 2006 I began 2 months of hormone therapy (2 Lupron injections). My doc said the Lupron would help to starve the cancer and also shrink my prostate making it easier to treat. The hormone treatments were not entirely pleasant but not so bad. I did experience a little PMS-like mental side effects.

In November 2006, I started 5 weeks of external beam radiation. I experienced a few bowel related side effects but mostly it was a breeze. I got used to the daily morning prep for each treatment. The final thing was the brachytherapy day surgery 6 weeks later. On December 20th, my doc implanted 62 radiation seeds in my prostate. Not bad at all... The worst part was going home with a catheter, but I was able to take it out the next morning. They told me that the radiation would decay to almost negligible in 2 months or so. Discharge instructions said that I shouldn't let small children sit in my lap and that I shouldn't sit closer than 6 ft. to anyone pregnant for any extended time. Fortunately, I didn't glow in the dark!

Anyway, I choose my treatment based on my research, however valid or invalid it might have been. I was trying to compare the end results between radical prostatectomy and radiation, particularly brachytherapy. Both showed a similar track record at eradicating the cancer. The radiation treatments, however, had a better track record at having less chance of problems with incontinence and impotence. Since cryotherapy is so recent, I tend to think that the jury is still out on it, but ask your doc about impotence and incontinence. With the radical, it's all in the skill of the surgeon.

Has my cancer been eradicated? It's a waiting game and will be for years to come I'm told... I will have my first PSA test in late March 2007 (3 months after my brachytherapy surgery). I'm just keeping my fingers crossed in the meantime.

Feel free to ask me more if I've not answered enough... Good luck to ya!

Steve
1/31/07
_________________
steve
dallas, tx

stevaphoto · New User Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Dallas, TX

Marc, don't let anyone tell you, you must act quickly. Prostate cancer is slow moving, so you have time to explore your options, unless there is evidence otherwise. If you're in a position to do so, I would consider some of the suggestions in this book: "Prostate Health in 90 Days", by Larry Clapp, PhD. Some of what he says seems a little far out there, but then again some of it makes real sense to me. I had already committed to my treatment before I bought this book. I got it on Amazon.com - used.
Steve
_________________
steve
dallas, tx

harvxyz · New User Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 5

Steve,

Thanks for sharing.

I'm leaning towards prostate removal even though I haven't ruled out cryotherapy or brachytherapy. I'm told I need to wait at least 6 weeks after the biopsy before one of these treatments so I have some time.

I'm having a bone scan today which I'm told is standard procedure but expected to be negative.

My next step is to get more input (I ordered the book). I'm also scheduling an appointment at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa since it's close by and supposed to be one of the top cancer centers in the country. Even though the internet and books are great resources I want to also hear direct from the experts.

Marc

stevaphoto · New User Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Dallas, TX

Since I originally started this post on brachytherapy, thought I'd give an update on my condition. It's now been almost 10 months since I received the combination treatment, that is, external beam radiation and brachytherapy (seed implants). Most recent PSA test at 9 months shows my PSA continuing to drop - now at 1.36. According to my doctor, the goal is for it to drop to 1 or below, at 1 year post treatment. So apparently I'm on track! Good news!

Steve
Dallas

brainman · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject: Re: Cryotherapy, anyone?

Steve, thanks for the update. This is indeed wonderful news! PSA is almost normal... actually, a lot of men have PSA's about 1 so you are going in the right direction.

How did you tolerate the brachytherapy and external beam radiation? It obviously worked, but did you have any side-effects from your treatment? Just want to learn as much as I can about Prostate Cancer. It seems all too common.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

stevaphoto · New User Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Dallas, TX

Thanks Jim for being interested. About the PSA numbers. Had I opted for the radical prostatectomy, my numbers should be 0. Didn't do that because of possible erectile disfunction and bladder issues. Since I still have a prostate, it still gives a little PSA.

As for side effects from my treatments, they were all relatively minor and very tolerable. The worst thing about the 5 weeks of external beam radiation was getting up at 5:30am each week day, to do the prep before the radiation at 7:30am. Had to do a suppository to stimulate a bowel movement, so my rectum was empty. Then had to drink a significant amount of water so bladder was full, but not too full. The radiation, since it spills over a little bit beyond the prostate, caused a little diarrhea in my case, but nothing major. It also inflamed my hemmorhoids a bit.

The brachytheraphy itself was a breeze - a day surgery. Went home with a urinary catheter that I removed the next morning myself. I was instructed not to let small children sit in my lap, or be close to pregnant woment for the next 60 days (because of the radiation I was emitting). Eventually I bought a small lead apron to lay in my lap, so my toy breed dog wouldn't think I was ignoring him.

Another thing, prior to all the above radiation treatments, I was given 2 monthly dosages (injections) of Lupron, a hormone blocker. Part of the aim here was to block testesterone production, which would suppress the growth and would shrink the size of the prostate allowing easier treatment. Side effects here included PMS like symptoms about 6 weeks into it, which for me included a few hot flashes at night, and a little mental irritability. There was one situation when I should have kept my mouth shut, if you get my drift! The Lupron also dried out my skin a bit, but like I said - nothing major here!

So 10 months later - so far, so good. I have no complaints about the treatment choices I made. I have some urgency to urinate sometimes and have to find a bathroom quickly at times. Believe it or not, I carry a glass bottle in the car for this, just in case, since I work out on site a lot, doing architectural photography not near a bathroom sometimes. For a lot of people, Flomax helps with this, but not particularly for me.

A side note - a photographer friend of mine has also been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer - at a more advanced gleason score than mine was. Apparently he's not a good candidate for the radiation/brachytheraphy, so he's considering cryotherapy at an Arlington, Tx facility close to him. I'm following his situation with interest...

Seems you're doing ok! Best wishes to you! Sounds like you've been through much more than I have...

Steve
Dallas, tx.

chas036 · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:24 am Post subject: Re: Cryotherapy, anyone?

At your age, I would only consider surgery. That is the only option that you can be 99% sure that you got all the cancer. I have read so many posts from people who had radiation and then after 10 or 12 years the cancer comes back. Radiation is a great option if your in your 70's and don't expect to live more than 10 or 15 years more, but if your in your 50's, you don't want to be 60 and have the cancer return.

I had robotic surgery 4 weeks ago and the pathology report came back no positive margins which means I have a 99% chance of no more cancer. You can't say this with radiation treatment.

I picked a good surgeon and I have no ED problems. With alot of manual and visual stimulation I can acheive a pretty hard erection without viagra. With viagra, it is rock solid. It has only been 4 weeks, I suspect in a few months, I will have rock solid erections without viagra.

I do have some incontinence, but nothing I can not live with for awhile. I drip when walking or lifting or laughing, but I am totaly dry when sitting or sleeping. This should also pass in a few months.

If you are considering surgery and incontinence is an issue, I found a surgeon in NYC who you might want to consider.

There is doctor at a hospital called NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in NYC and his name is Ashutosh K. Tewari. I just read an article that he has a new technique for attaching the ureatha to the bladder where he uses some tissue left over from where the prostate was removed to strengthen the connection. He claims this added tissue strengthens the splinkter muscle. He says it is simple to do and only adds a few minuites to the procedure. He has found that 80% of his patients recover full continence within 2 to 3 weeks since he has been doing this procedure. If I had it to do over again I would choose this surgeon. Even though I have some incontinence, I would rather opt for none. Even if I had to travel to a different city for a couple of weeks, I would do it if I new my chances for continence were better than with my local surgeon. Good luck in your decision.
_________________
Biospy 4/2007 - 2/12 <%5 Cancer Gleason 6
RP 9/25/2007 Uni Rochester, NY
Gleason 6, Negative Margins

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Prostate Cancer Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others