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Prostate Cancer |
Welcome to my Prostate
Cancer Web Page
I have prostate cancer (PC). I was diagnosed in July, 2000 and treated in September, October, and November, 2000. I spent a great deal of time talking to doctors, researching books, researching the internet, and talking to cancer patients. I hope with this web page to pass on some of the information that I acquired to men who might become patients and those who are surviving PC patients.
I chose as my treatment ProstRcision. This treatment consists of radio active seeds implanted into the prostate followed by 7 weeks of conformal photon beam radiation. My treatment was performed at RCOG in Atlanta, GA. Their web address is: http://www.rcog.net
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I Selected ProstRcision as the treatment for my prostate cancer for several reasons:
Please note that I chose ProstRcision because I felt this was the best treatment for me. My recommendation for men with PC is do your homework and educate yourself. Then choose the best treatment suited for you. Remember the best treatment is the one that you choose. I hope my web page will help you.
Getting Correct Information Every year 190,000 men in the United States will be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer (PC) and 30,000 men will die from this disease. If these statistics are sobering, imagine the fright at actually hearing a diagnosis of PC. Often accompanying that fear comes a sense of helplessness, of being out -of-control because men are suddenly confronted with something totally unknown. When men listen to their doctor, look on the internet, read books or speak to friends, the situation only worsens as they learn that much of the information available about prostate cancer, especially about treatment, is conflicting and frequently inaccurate. Doctors often disagree on which treatment they believe is the most effective for PC. Typically, if you go to a urologist, that doctor will recommend a radical prostatectomy. And, if you see a radiation oncologist, that doctor will recommend some type of radiotherapy. Because of this confusion, men with PC, plus their families, need to be part of the decision-making process for treatment of this disease. In fact, the choice of treatment is one of the most important decisions a man will make during his lifetime.
The cure of PC is dependent on three things:
Treatment Methods for Prostate Cancer Of all the treatments currently used to treat men with potentially curable prostate cancer in the United States only two have high cure rates. Those two treatments are Radical Prostatectomy and ProstRcision. The following table shows the cure rates for men treated only by ProstRcision. 10-Year Cure Rate by PSA Group Using
ProstRcision
The following table shows a comparison of cure rates for RCOG, Johns Hopkins, and Seattle. This data was started in August 1992, the date when RCOG began using the ultrasound implant. Cure Rates of Prostate Cancer
Partin Tables
Prostate Cancer: To Screen or Not This article appeared in the "AARP Bulletin" issue
March 2001.
Information Links
The following men are Prostate Cancer Survivors.
Prostate Cancer Calculator Forecasting the Course of Disease DENVER, CO, September 24, 2001. This new web site can now forecast the medical
future for men with prostate disease.
Image-Guided Prostate Cryosurgery: from Cancer Control: Journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center Gary Onik, MD Abstract and IntroductionAbstractBackground: Cryosurgery was first used to treat prostate cancer in the early 1970s but it was not until 1993, when the results from percutaneous ultrasound-guided cryosurgery were published, that the potential advantages of this treatment became apparent. Changes in equipment and techniques have improved the results of cryosurgery, in both tumor control and lower morbidity.Methods: The author has reviewed data of his own and those of others concerning the changes in techniques employed and outcomes from prostate cryosurgery. Results: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous transperineal placement of the cryoprobes allows monitoring of freezing in real time. Monitoring temperature at critical locations, separating the rectum and prostate by saline injection, and using argon gas rather than liquid nitrogen-based equipment have improved results and lowered complication rates. The technique produces outcomes similar to those obtained with brachytherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy. Conclusions: Advantages of cryosurgery include the ability to re-treat patients without added morbidity and to treat salvage post radiation patients with acceptable results and morbidity. The recent demonstration that "nerve-sparing" cryosurgery is possible suggests that cryosurgery may be used more often. Click Here to view the remainder of the article.
Government Funding for PC Government funding for prostate cancer research historically has been less than for other serious diseases such as breast cancer and aids. The chart below illustrates the difference in allocation of Federal research dollars. Allocated Research Dollars for Years 1999 thru 2001
Patient Advocates For Advanced Cancer Treatments. (PAACT) This a newsletter for PC patients. It is free. Donations are accepted. It comes out 4 times per year. PAACT was started 15 years ago by Lloyd Ney. Lloyd was not a doctor. He was a cancer patient that was given months to live after he was diagnosed with PC. He lived 15 years. When Lloyd started PAACT he was like a voice in the wilderness crying out to help his fellow man. The challenges were many and there was a great deal of opposition from much of the medical community to this brazen individual who dared to challenge the establishment and empower the patients with knowledge that up to then, was considered the domain of the physicians. Though his perseverance and dedication to the task of trying to understand the disease and help his fellow man, Lloyd established PAACT in 1984. His was the only newsletter published at that time by a patient for other PC patients that was made available to anyone. The Address is:
Good Books
Urinary Incontinence and Erectile Dysfunction Prostate surgery can be a life-changing event-both emotinally and physically.
And there may be significant issues to face on your road to long-term recovery.
Two possible physical results of the surgery may be loss of bladder control
and/or erectile dysfunction (ED). There are treatments available for both
conditions. The following link takes you to one source of treatments.
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