Info on HDR -BOOST therapy at 5 th week IGRT

My IGRT rad doc. said I could opt at the 5th week of radiation therapy to have the 2-sessions of BOOST therapy ...guess I stating this correctly..maybe? anyway ....from the sounds of what he explained I understand why few of his patients do it. Any info from you that have had something like this done ...sure like to hear what you have to say .....doing the 2 HDR `s would eliminate the last 4 weeks of the IGRT 9 week program.... Got my 6 month Lupron shot yesterday ...to begin Rads Oct 20th Thanks for any replies! Oh,also.. any feedback on this 6 mo. Lupron shot??

Michael-T:
I think he already started IMRT. He's kind of borderline between unfavorable intermediate risk and high risk because he has 3 intermediate risk factors (PSA>10, stage T2c, and GS 4+3). (NCCN allows upstaging to high risk under those circumstances.) I think I had advocated that he look into more abbreviated therapies, including SBRT,hypofractionated IMRT, and brachy combo, but I don't know if he did. I would have suggested HDR monotherapy, except that I don't know a practitioner in Florida, and I know he can't travel for treatment because of his wife.

Fl-drifter:
What is it about the HDR brachy treatment that bothers you?

- Allen

Thanks for the replies...no casodex ...just the 6 mo. Lupron shot and a Oct. RAD start date ...The RO described the proceedure and let me know that the only time I am knocked out is when the urol. puts the straws in....after that it`s some pain meds ...I`m awake ...and transported from the hospital or surgery center to where the radiation would take place??( differant location and building I think) ....awake through all this...then I forget what he said next ...if I had to be transported back to the surgery center ?? then remove the straws...cath for 3 days ...then repeat 2 weeks later ....just sounds like a terrible experience to me ?? what do ya say?

TA....I think in my situation I`m being moved around which I don`t like ...(out of 1st building to second and back?) The doc that is doing the IGRT does it with the aid of the uroligist to insert the staws....he said he does HDR`s , but in the last year he said only a couple .....he said before that at least 2 / Week......his response to why the drop off , and he said most guys don`t want to go through the 2 procedures....at any rate I have to do the 5 weeks then decide on the HDT boost.....leaving the Rad docs. office ..the last question I asked him was ....what did he think would be the best,period..straight talk ? He thought a minute and said the 5 weeks and the 2 HDR sessions....so ? seems like the boost really get at it but ,and all depends on the 2 docs. experience....

I had two HDR treatments, two weeks apart in 2009. The grid is put in in an operating room setting, then I was wheeled in a gurney to another building through a parking lot to where the radiation wire machine is. Two wire insertion routines, 5 hours apart. Removal of the grid was done in the wire room. No catheter afterwards. I still think it is a better approach than surgery. Only six months of Lupron.

Age 64 in 2015
12/02 PSA 2.9 age 51
9/03 BX/DX, Gleason 6, 4 of 12 cores
9/03 Brachytherapy
5/08 PSA nadir 1.1
12/08 PSA 1.8
2/09 BX/DX, Gleason 8, 1 of 12 cores
6/09 Hyperthermic Radiation (HDR brachy), Hormone (short term), IMRT (10 fractions) spring 2009
10/09 PSA nadir < 0.1 10/09 through 01/12
4/12 PSA 0.2
3/14 PSA 2.9
5/14 C11 Acetate PT/CT, found 2.0 cm lymph node
5/14 Lupron/Casodex (9 months)
8/14 nadir <0.01
2/15 SBRT to node, at UCSD
3/15 PSA 0.02,T=0
6/15 PSA<0.015,T=105 (yippee!)
9/15 PSA<0.1 (Quest), T=278
12/31/15 PSA<0.015 (Labcorp)

sorry for the confusion on my part here on the forum.....I have NOT started IGRT.... The uro gave me a 6 month Lupron depot shot a week ago....That is supposed to shrink and slow the c growth. Then Oct. 7th uro is putting 3-5 gold markers in prostate .....then on the 10th I go to Rad doc. for work up and ct and mri stuff for the "plan" setting up my computer program for the IGRT. The Igrt is to start around the 20th of Oct.......................when I went for second Opinion to another uro before my decision on rad therapy ....he told me about HDR and that it is done by him and another rad doc. in the same 21st century outfit in Cape Coral Fl. I had a second meeting with my rad doc. and he was informed of my interest in the HDR as a possible addition ....canceling out the last weeks of the IMRT. The rad doc. then explained it all in detail and said I would`nt have to make a decision untill the 5th week of IGRT (in Nov.).....so this is where I am at . The rad doc. said he did at least 2 a week( HDR`s) in the past...but lately only 1 in the last year ?? He said most guys just didn`t want to do it ?? so, I have to investigate this more as time goes by . my rad doc. said he works with both of the uro`s I had seen....they both do the cath insertion and my rad doc. does the zapping ....my rad doc. did say when I pushed for his best outcome opinion ....he said the 5 weeks of IGRT and the 2 HDR`s...eliminating the last 4 weeks of IGRT /////lots to think about ,any advice? In NC now enjoying the cool temps and out of the 93* s. Fl heat David