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Radiotherapy vs Radical Radical Prostatectomy

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User
Posted 29 Jul 2024 at 15:07

I'm 56 same diagnosis as you except mine is on the left side and the surgeon said no possibility of sparing and therefore I'd have no feelings in penis afterwards, my UK doctor recommended surgery as radiotherapy causes issues in 15 years time.

I'm fortunate to have access to Spain's medical system, the surgeon there said, you should consider radiotherapy because, with surgery 1. No penis use 2. Very high risk of incontinence because I'm overweight 3. Because with surgery it's unlikely to capture 100% and I'll need radio.

With radiotherapy, some ed, lower risk of incontinence, I can have the op later on if my PSA rises. She also added you'll be 72 in 15 years, how long do you want to live? You are aware we have euthanasia here.

I've started hormone treatment and I start my radiotherapy in October (scheduled around me looking after my granddaughter)

User
Posted 29 Jul 2024 at 15:26

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
 She also added you'll be 72 in 15 years, how long do you want to live? You are aware we have euthanasia here.

She sounds a bundle of joy. Perhaps she has shares in Dignitas. 😁

User
Posted 29 Jul 2024 at 22:47
Andy Muir, good luck as you go through the decision that most of us here have agonised over.

At 56, assuming the weight isn't too much of an issue, you should be young enough to recover well from surgery. But if the nerves can't be spared you are likely to have erectile dysfunction (not loss of sensation though, that might be a translation issue). Radiotherapy has been improving massively with the latest generation of machines, so the longer term adverse effects should be less than they used to be, but I think it is still true to say that if you have recurrence then RT following surgery is much more likely to be a realistic option than surgery after RT.

I will turn 72 in a few weeks, and I am still hoping to enjoy a reasonably fit life into my eighties. However I do know from helping my own and my wife's elderly relatives that very few of us avoid a decline in our late eighties and certainly in our nineties.

 
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