[bkspine]

I am a 61 year old active male. Trying to decide if I should have a radical prostectomy or the cryosurgery? Cancer is small and confined to prostate, Gleason was 6 and PSA was 10. Problems with urination and pressure/size of the prostate.

[digger]

hello I just had prostate surgery on june 26. was in hos 3days.cancer was confined in prostate,did not spread in linfnodes. my psa was 9.5. was in very little pain even the day after surg.i told the nurses i felt like i could go home and cut my grass. my dad had pros. cancer 17 yrs ago, i went to his doctor and he removed mine also. he said hes done 600 so far in his career. if you have any questions please dont be afraid to ask my email addrs. [moderator note: e-mail address has been removed]

[ohno]

I have a brochure in my hand from the University of CO. urology dept that states that cyosurgery reslts in impotence 87% of the time.

I am trying to decide what to do as well, am looking into HIFU (google hifu.ca or ushifu ) it's in clinical trials in the USA, in hospitals such as Duke, Sloan-Ketteing, MD Andersen, Cleveland Clinic and many more... look at clinicaltrials.gov or you can phone them at 866-650-4466 It's using ultrasound to vaporize the prostate, they've been doing this techique in Europe for 15 years with 92% success. You can buy it in Canada or Mexico--if you don't qualify for the trial. I din't qualify, my prostate is too large.

[LarryD]

I am a 63 year old active male. I had robotically-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) one month ago, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in June. My PSA was 3.8 and my Gleason grade was 6. From the pre-op biopsy, cancer was found in about 5% of one of the twelve biopsy cores. No cancer in my family.

Full biopsy of the prostate after removal showed Gleason grade of 7 (3+4), cancer in 14% of the prostate (not 5% of 1/12 as pre-op sample showed), and had microscopic extracapsular extension (but thankfully with 100% negative surgical margins). So my first point is to not wait too long before deciding. My pre-op indications were early stage, low volume cancer, but the reality is that it was much more established and more aggressive than we knew.

Re my surgery, it was on a Friday afternoon, I was discharged from the hospital Saturday and that night my wife and I went to the store to grocery shop and fill prescriptions. So the surgery and initial recovery have gone extremely well. I encourage you to look into RALP, and find some place where they do many of them. The surgeon I chose has been doing this surgery for 8 years, and he is in surgery 3 days per week. Skill and experience are important.

It is too early for me to know whether I will regain erectile function, or even whether my PSA is now indetectable (although I should know that in a week or so).

I wish you good fortune with your decision(s).