METS IN SPINE/ STILL PC IN BED???

We are STILLl gathering info about this disease. Had RP and never had undectable PSA. Found that my husband has 1 met in spine. Read stats below!

Could anyone tell me if they have had expeirence with still having PC in the bed of the prostate as the nerve bundles were spared and wondered if it could still be there as well as in the spine?

We are planning on haveing radiation to the one met. in spine too as suggested by UCSF.

So to sum this question up: If spine is radiated and pelvis radiated could the cancer not spread anymore through the lymph system???

The unfortunate truth about PCa, is that we don't know. We are left to making educated guesses, and finding experienced professionals who are well experienced in making these decisions and helping us along the way.

With a met, you will have to guess that there are more PC cells floating around somewhere. Most likely some have settled in and around the prostate bed as well. But these are again, just guesses.

Hopefully you have found multiple opinions from oncologists to help you in your journey. Good luck to you as you travel this road.

Thanks for the answers guys as you have valued answers and we are all in this together.
We look to this forum for intelligent info as I know most everyone on HW does alot of research and we really appreciate each and every answer, advice, moral support and everything you all do for one another.

We are fairly new to this whole process and want to ask questions and are always pleasantly surprised that there is always someone to answer.

Keep Healthy and positive as we are trying too!

BOOGEE

These are the hundreds of thousands of dollars questions and so far non-definitiveness rules (unfortunate as heck). Ask yourself if PCa cells traveled some how to your spine, what stopped them from setting up shop anywhere else????? Micro mets says your scans are imperfect and cannot see/find small amounts of PCa cells, so if they can travel that far and do show up, natural theory (logic-a 5 letter word) would say potentially could reside anywhere. Which explains so called recurrance/recurrence which is actually not recurring but micro mets that eventually got bigger and thus found on a scan. My point is nobody knows and this is your PCa expertise level at this time in history. It all is a huge gamble, some docs might tell you such outright....I have a couple whom did say just that...and some others whom would sugar coat it all to more of a Fantasy Island episode...I prefer the truth no matter how nasty it may sound. You have to question plenty in this, even the experts have disagreements aired in public.

Best to whatever you decide.

If you get salvage radiation (SRT) it is a crapshoot but might be worthwhile even though you have supposedly known mets, makes it a big gamble. IMRT radiation is photon rays, Proton rays are a specialized huge machine built and technically a potent ray but no evidence probably of superior results (this is argueable too), the most potent ray is neutron via Cyclotron machine (was 3 in the USA- only 1 is working I heard) not sure they even use it on SRT. There are newer advances in targeting and things used in IMRT/photon, alot has more to do with planning, dosemetrics and other parameters of radiation...an expert vs. a newbie is important in this.

It is your call on what to do, no guarantees in anything is typical in PCa. I had neutron & photon radiations as primary treatment (2002), and it went well and no real compliants from me. I kind of knew it was not a cure with the stats I started with, got 8 opinions, only one curative sales pitch (lol).

ZEFUS,

Where (if you want to disclose) are the area(s) where you had the Neutron & Photon radiation ?

I see you don't post your stats and that may be personal as well, but hope you are doing O.K.

BOOGEE

Hi BOOGEE, - You ask: "So to sum this question up: If spine is radiated and pelvis radiated could the cancer not spread anymore through the lymph system???"

My Response; The answer is, that active PCa would, most likely, still be present in the body after radiation. If the disease has metastasized to the spine, it is already systemic disease. This means that there are already malignant cells circulating within the body, through the blood/lymph system, which is how they were deposited in the spinal bone. Such circulating cells will not be adversely affected by radiation, which is a "localized" treatment that needs a confined target for extinction, such as the metastasis you have identified.

Once in the circulatory system these cancerous cells are transported to sites that are often distant from the original tumor and when a vulnerability is found, they take root in the new location. At present, "systemic" disease is considered incurable, but that does NOT mean that it is untreatable and many men live for prolonged periods of time, usually measured in years, with Hormone Therapy (HT).

You are already looking into the latest, most promising drugs that may change things even more favorably. Good luck! – John@newPCa.org (aka) az4peaks