How long must I be on Lupron after completing salvage radiation ??

I had a prostatectomy about 3 years ago for a gleason 7, 4+3, psa 4.3 and had excellent pathology. After 21 months psa reached 0.11 and I initiated ADT. One month Firmagon, followed by 3 month Lupron shot.

Because of timing of radiation and Lupron, I will have either 3 weeks, 7 weeks, or 11 weeks of Lupron post radiation completion. I have heard that typically 2 months is used for people in my case however my RO is undecided on this as yet, and I have a call into my urologist.

Any thoughts from others?

Teddy

No one knows the optimal duration, and different ROs use different protocols. We know that for most men, 6 months is better than nothing, and at least 12 months seems to be good in some analyses. The picture gets muddier for men like you who were originally diagnosed as intermediate risk, and those who received 70 Gy of salvage RT. Here's an article about this:

Combining ADT and salvage radiation therapy improves outcomes

Given the uncertainty, you and your RO should discuss this, taking into account your state of health, the tolerability for you of the ADT side effects, and the probability of risks and benefits to longer adjuvant ADT treatment.

- Allen

From my experience, 5 years ago now. it seemed like each doctor/treatment center had their out protocol. I saw 3 medical oncologists and got 3 different opinions, 3 months starting one month prior to SRT, 2 years and 1 year. I went with one year ADT3 because that was as much as I thought that I could deal with at the time and the medical oncologist making the recommendation specialized in PC treatment. It has worked out for me so far.

Best of luck. BB