Dad just been diagnosed

Not at this point, usually. Let's imagine that your dad had been diagnosed with multiple bone mets all those months ago ...

1. the standard treatment route until fairly recently would have been HT until it stopped working and then chemo at the end of life stage to try to extend life a little. Chemo doesn't kill prostate cancer

2. more recently, chemo would have been offered at diagnosis because it is believed it can make the HT last longer - but lifelong HT is still the only treatment plan

3. just as the pandemic started, NICE allowed men to have a new generation HT with the standard HT - this was because they wanted to minimise the number of patients going to hospital for chemo and then dying of Covid. The new generation HTs are still only offering lifelong HT

4. Very recently, there has been much excitement about research that suggests men with bone mets might benefit from having the prostate removed or blasted - potentially makes the HT last much longer than the other options. Exciting development but as rare as hens teeth - many men simply can't find a hospital or onco willing to do it.

In effect, if this onco is right and your dad does have bone mets, he has accidentally got into group 4, the best place to be.

It would be madness to put him through chemo or double HT (both of which have some pretty serious side effects) if they are not even sure it is a met. The only way of finding out will be to wait and see what his PSA does when the HT is out of his system.

Edited by member 20 Feb 2023 at 01:58  | Reason: Not specified

For how long is he due to have HT?