for guys who had salvage radiation after prostatectomy and which then failed

If you can stay in the zero club for two ears, that's a good sign...If you stay in the club for five years, you can stop worrying..Ten years and you are home free...Every case is different and there are exceptions to every rule..

Best of luck to you....

I went on Pituitary Deprivation Therapy 2 weeks after my RP when my first blood test for PSA came back at .2. First Firmagon for 3 months, then Lupron for a year, then Eligard for a bit more than a year. In total, my testosterone was no higher than 2.2 ng/dL and my PSA < 0.03 for more than 3 years.

3 months after the RP and starting hormonal therapy I got ~80 Gy over 2 months at 5 sessions a week.

Now it is almost 4 years since the RP. My testosterone has screamed back up to a whopping 204 ng/dL and my PSA is back up to 0.08. Looks like that stuff didn't work and I will most likely go back on intermittent Eligard for the duration.

Best of luck to you.

No sense in worrying about it but I know it's hard not to. Like has been said, everyone is different but clearly the longer you stay at zero the better and if you do have bcr the longer it takes to double the better. Gleason 7 is on the bubble in terms of aggressiveness and curability whereas 8 or higher usually is not curable.
Bob

Surgery 2007
GS 3+4=7 PSA at time of surgery 4.1
Path report T3a, EPE+, Margins-, Post surgery PSA .005
PSA rose to .06 by January 2015
April-May 2015 - SRT 35 sessions 70g's, No HT, no side effects
Nov. 2015 - PSA <.006
May 2016- PSA <.006
Blood draw Nov. 15, 2016-
Praying that it has not changed

My PSA was less than 0.1 at one month after prostatectomy. At the next check, 90 days later, it was 0.2.
The day before I started SRT it was 0.7.

I did not have ADT.

My PSA never went back up after SRT. It was detectable after radiation (0.1) but on the next check it was undetectable and has remained so ever since. That was over 9 years ago. (Hey, I'm getting close to 10 years, Fairwind!)

I would not assume that you will see a recurrence.

I remained undetectable (0.00) for 4 1/2 years after SRT, then had detectable but pretty stable PSA of 0.02 to 0.05 over the next two years. I've now had a jump from 0.04 to 0.23 in 6 months and am waiting until after Thanksgiving to schedule an appointment with a medical oncologist. I had ADT during my SRT but just Casodex for 3 months, not Lupron. At the time of my surgery I was Gleason 7 (3+4) but about 70 percent cancer load in one lobe, a smaller amount of cancer in the other lobe, plus seminal vessicle invasion. So I was at high risk of recurrence from the get-go. If anything I beat the odds by progressing as slowly as I did. I credit my SRT for buying me a few additional years ADT-free.

Jim

all very helpful, thanks. Hopefully my psa at the 5 month mark post Lupron will still be undetectable.

Bohemond, Yeah I get the print NY Times on Sundays, electronic rest of week. Local paper print edition daily. Best wishes.

NewspaperLover