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Prostate Cancer |
| PSA Nadir | PSA Bounce | Cancer Staging | Best Biopsy | GARP Report |
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
Why I Selected ProstRcision
I Selected ProstRcision as the treatment for my prostate cancer for several reasons:
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1. It has a 10-year statistical study of cure rates computed by an outside independent agency. Its cure rates are the highest ever published. |
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2. Men with advanced cancer are not rejected for treatment in order to increase cure rates. |
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3. It is a synergistic dose-intensifying treatment since the iodine implant is done before the conformal radiation. |
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4. All prostate cancer patients are treated as though they have microscopic capsule penetration. |
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5. Doctors must be extensively trained; the requirement is at least 100 cases assisting other radiation oncologists before they are allowed to operate. |
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6. The treatment environment is one of compassion. |
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7. It has the only radiation oncologists in the country who seed the seminal vesicles. |
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8. The computerized ProstRcision database is the oldest and most extensive in the United States. This treatment has been used at RCOG since 1984. |
| 9. I contacted and talked to 6 people who had been treated at RCOG. All talked very positive about the treatment. |
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
This year alone almost 200,000 men in the United States will be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer (PC) and 40,000 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:
| Finding PC early with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. |
| Selecting a treatment method with a proven high cure rate. |
| Selecting a doctor who knows how to cure prostate cancer. |
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 information taken from the RCOG Web Site http://www.rcog.net
July, 2004
(Calculations performed with PSA nadir 0.2 ng/ml)
| PSA Group Before Treatment | ProstRcision |
| 0.0-4.0 ng/ml | 96% |
| 4.1-10.0 ng/ml | 90% |
| 10.1-20.0 ng/ml | 73% |
| 20.1 ng/ml or more | 71% |
| Overall | 85% |
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
The following information taken from the RCOG Web Site http://www.rcog.net
July, 2004
Calculated with PSA cutpoint 0.2 ng/ml
| Institution/Investigator | Treatment | Cure Rate | Years |
| RCOG/Critz | ProstRcision | 85% | 10 |
| Johns Hopkins/Walsh | Radical Prostatectomy | 80% | 10 |
| Seattle/Blasko-Ragde | Seeds only or irradiation followed by seeds. | 55% | 10 |
Partin Tables
Using a combination of prostate-specific antigen, clinical stage, and gleason
score these tables predict pathologic stage of localized prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer: To Screen or Not
This article appeared in the "AARP Bulletin" issue
March 2001.
It presents the Pros and Cons of PSA testing and screening.
Pros and Cons
Information Links
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.
The site uses online calculators and a kind of
artificial intelligence, called artificial neural networks (ANNs), to
address various prostate cancer-related conditions. The calculators
"learn" and make prognoses by comparing each patient's characteristics
with a database of information from hundreds or thousands of other
patients.
Image-Guided Prostate Cryosurgery:
State of
the Art
from Cancer Control: Journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center
Gary Onik, MD
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
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
| Aids | 2,530,900,000 | 2,867,700,000 | 3,036,200,000 |
| Breast Cancer | 474,700,000 | 523,800,000 | 553,000,000 |
| Prostate Cancer | 177,500,000 | 239,200,000 | 271,200,000 |
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Prostate Cancer Statistics |
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:
| Patient Advocates For Advanced Cancer Treatments, Inc. |
| PO Box 141695 |
| Grand Rapids, MI 49514 |
| Phone: (616) 453-1477 |
Good Books
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"The Best Options for Diagnosing &
Treating Prostate Cancer" |
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"Man to Man" |
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Masculinity versus
Castration by Santiago Vilas, Ph.D. I have been reading prostate cancer material for the past 3 ½ years and the book “Masculinity versus Castration” by Santiago Vilas, Ph.D. is one of the best. Dr. Vilas has presented the medical history of prostate cancer from the beginning to the present time. . He covers everything a man should know about prostate cancer. Dr. Vilas points out that a patient should educate himself first then proceed to find the best treatment. Two very important things that should be considered before a treatment is chosen, what is the cure rate and what are the side effects. Every man 40 years old and above should read this book. Nelson Boudreaux
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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.
http://www.visitAMS.com