Prostate cancer at a young age...

[cassa333]

Prostate cancer is (generaly) regarded as an old mans cancer. But what is the prognosis for someone under 55yrs?

All the information I have been reading talks about over 65s and because the consultant has, rather than use the wait and see method, recomended either surgery, radiotherapy or Brachytherapy because he is so 'young' I am concerned that it is more serious than they have said.

Does anyone know of anyone that has gone through this (at a relatively young age) and if so was it sucessfull?

Thanks

[Jemisa]

My OH was 52 when diagnosed. Had surgery, 6 months chemo.
He celebrated his 78th B/day last NOV. & is v/well
Does that answer your Q cassa?

jem

[cassa333]

Thank you.

That does make me feel a bit better.

At the moment he is not reading all the gumpf that we got today :(

[Sqad]

There is not enough information in your post for anybody to give you an informed or meaningful response.

I need to know the type of prostate cancer....which will indicate the rate of growth...Gleason Score (Google it)

Stage, that is if it is still confined to the prostate gland, invaded the capsule or spread to other parts of the body.

Another helpful factor would be to know the level of the PSA.

Age has little or no benefit on assessing success or survival rates.

Of course you will get many anecdotal replies, but without the above information, they will be of little use to you.

[Sqad]

Further thoughts:

\\\\and because the consultant has, rather than use the wait and see method, recomended either surgery, radiotherapy or Brachytherapy because he is so 'young' I am concerned that it is more serious than they have said.\\


I think that you are reading too much into the above paragraph.

[NoMercy]

What's his age, what type of cancer (ie transitional cell carcinoma/adenocarcimoma), and what's his latest PSA?

[cassa333]

Thank you everyone.

His Gleason Score is 6. They sad this was low.

Only PSA done was 6.9 Again apparently low but was of concern for them to start the other tests.

20% cancer cells on 6 of the 10 biopsies.

Not sure if it is contained but they can feel the lumps on his prostate and have indicated that it is localised.

He is 54 and his dad had Prostate Cancer but died from Bowel Cancer.
Thanks

[Sqad]

Still not quite enough, but i will assume that he has had a skeletal scan and that there is no distant spread.

Statistics........these vary from year to year and i would say that he has an 80% chance of being alive in 5 years time. Might be much longer, could be shorter.

If it were me.....I would opt for radiotherapy followed by hormonal therapy.

BUT if your surgeon offers HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) then i would go for that with hormonal therapy.

Best I can offer.....get back to us if you have any further questions.

[rowanwitch]

apparently they are getting good results with brachytherapy it is recorded as a curative intent treatment... Becoming more widely available

[cassa333]

Thank you.

The test results I have given are the only tests he has had done.

We were talking yesterday (ok I was talking and he was trying to ignore me..) and he got a bit upset with the idea of Brachytherapy as it would mean he can't get close to the children for more than a few minutes at a time...

Isn't the HIFU treatment new? The Dr didn't mention that but I have read about it on the internet.

Is it a better one to go for then?

[Sqad]

cassa....HIFU is indeed a new treatment and is undergoing NHS trials in many centres and if you Google HIFU Cancer Research UK, you should be able to get a list of centres involved. The great advantage of HIFU is the low, very low incidence of impotence which you may get with radiotherapy or Brachytherapy.

The established radiotherapy followed by hormone treatment is also very successful and should be seriously considered.

[cassa333]

Thank you Sqab, I am now officialy confused.

Although we hadn't been told, we had assumed that he was at T1 stage but having had a look at the cancer research pages it seems more likely that he is T3 because they can easily feel the lumpyness on the surface of the prostate.

Do you think this is why they are recomending action rather than wait and see?

[Sqad]

cassa.........feeling the lump easily doesn't necessarily mean it is T3 as for this stage it needs to have invaded the capsule of the prostate and this can only be determined on the biopsy.

Feeling the lump in the prostate can still be Stage 1.

\\\\\\Do you think this is why they are recomending action rather than wait and see?\\\

No I don't. He has Stage 1or3 prostate cancer at the age of 54 and i would agree that the treatment of choice is what i have suggested.

Yes.......one could wait and see, but if it has involved the capsule (histologically) then wait and see is not an option.

[Huderon]

I had brachytherapy for prostate cancer after a shortened course of external beam radiotherapy 7 years ago at the age of 52.

The external beam bit was a nuisance (60 mile round trips for half an hour or so in the hospital). I still try not to eat too many fatty or spicy foods, don't overdo the tea and alcohol and always have some Diocalm or something similar handy.

The brachy op was straightforward - in one day, treated the next day, home on the third day (the lead lined room was a bit of overkill, but it was quiet !).

My PSA levels were a bit slower than expected coming down, but other than that the only problems I have had is an occasional trace of blood in my urine - the iodine seeds can move a bit afterwards and cause a bit of minor bleeding - and minor incontinence (the hospital labelled it "urgency"). The incontinence is easily dealt with by having an empty water bottle in the car at all times and making sure I know where the toilets are wherever I am or by keeping an eye open for bushes if we are out in the countryside.

I did sleep in a separate bed from my wife for a few months afterwards, but only because she is 10 years younger than me. I didn't stop giving my daughters hugs when they were needed - that kind of brief contact is OK, and they were both past the stage of lap sitting anyway.

As for the impotence - well things don't work quite as well as they used to but everything does still function, and being sterile we never needed to worry about contraception afterwards.

[telford67]

I was diagnosed at the age of 47 with stage T1c prostate cancer gleason 6 totally confined --had a few complications after my biopsy so they removed my prosate 3 months later --my cancer was then upstaged to T3b invasion of the seminal vesicles and extensive spread into the large nerve bundles ---I suffer extensive nerve pain but my cancer is in remission with a PSA of 0.1 2 years later.