ProtonPals

It’s Sunday and a beautiful day outside and I don’t want to be writing about cancer just now. I’d rather be on the beach in Galveston, but now that I’ve taken to packing parachutes for men who may come along and read our newsletters and our web site, I feel I must share a very moving article with you that I just read about M.D. Anderson. It speaks volumes of what one goes through with have cancer.If you’re a patient you have first hand experience with cancer, but as prostate cancer patients you are relatively isolated and in a great environment. Unscathed by evidence of the surgeries and the type of treatment that has to go on at the main center with as the author describes with it’s own sights and smells. With the exception of the children who we share the lobby with, we’re not among serious cases and there’s still much hope.But we all know how being with the children and young adolescents we might feel like the author did, “I can’t look at them”. We put up a good front because we know they are having access to the best care in the world but you know their lives will be shortened and probably certainly more pain and treatments will follow.Please read “Forty Years’ Ware: A Place Where Cancer is the Norm”.     Forty Years’ War  a PDF version .The link to the NYTimes

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Surgeon Relates How Radical Surgery is Rather Crude and a Relatively Blind Procedure

A new and comprehensive web site on prostate knowledge covers news, expert commentary and cancer research including personal case histories.  Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, they fall in the anti screening camp and the lead banner accompanied with a video says “PSA Screening Not Recommended for Men Over Age of 75”.  I don’t know about you but 75 is not nearly as old as I once thought it was especially since I’m going to be 74 in two months. Please let me know your opinion and analysis.

Here’s the site Harvard Prostate Health  In the patient perspective section there’s an excellent article by a surgeon and his wife relating how he explored radical surgery, robotic surgery and radiation; and when he chose radiation. Here are points from the article:
- if there was positive margin after surgery he would have to have radiation. The level of incontinence   with both surgery and radiation is higher than either modality alone.
- as a surgeon he had seen standard radical surgery done and concluded that it’s a rather crude, relatively blind procedure. 

With full credit to Harvard Medical School here’s the article in PDF format. 

Insert article from the Proton Therapy Offers More Effective Treatment (a pdf on PP site)
Description of the RNA Site
Newer Video on Proton Therapy (6 minutes)

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HELLO! What’s the risk of having a blood test?  There is none. There’s a risk to having a heart catheter done but I don’t see the risk of a blood test. PSA tests are non invasive and done for early detection. Early detection leads to easier and more successful cures. More knowledge leads you to choose a treatment with less side effects.  I’ve been in touch with too many forty year olds who have been detected early and are cured and are not incontinent.   

Joe

October 15, 2009
By Johns Hopkins Health Alerts; www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com

If you are an elderly man, you may wonder if you should continue to have an annual PSA test to screen for prostate cancer. Here are the latest guidelines.

The U. S. Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended that doctors not screen men age 75 and older for prostate cancer. The panel weighed the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing in this population and concluded that the screening was more likely to have a negative impact on these men than a positive one.

The rationale: Prostate cancer is a slow-growing malignancy that may take 10 or more years to produce significant symptoms. Many elderly men will die of another condition before their prostate cancer becomes life threatening. Thus, an abnormal PSA test would lead to the pain and discomfort of a prostate biopsy and unnecessary worry if no cancer is found. If cancer is found and treated, the man will have to contend with side effects, such as sexual dysfunction and incontinence.

Other medical organizations recommend annual screening for men at average risk for prostate cancer beginning at age 50, but they do not address when screening is no longer necessary. And still others recommend screening for all men with a life expectancy of at least 10 years.

Bottom line advice: If you are age 75 or older, discuss the risks and benefits of PSA testing with your doctor. If you get tested and are diagnosed with a low-grade cancer, keep in mind that active surveillance is an option that allows you to be closely monitored but treated only if your disease progresses.

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