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Posted 6/14/2015 8:57 AM (GMT -8)
Newly diagnosed father stage 4 prostate cancer has spread to small place in pelvic bone. We are going crazy researching!! My Dad wants to know if anybody has done Immunotherapy?
Posted 6/14/2015 9:05 AM (GMT -8)
A number of people here have done Provenge. It works best when PSA is low. I think a patient needs to be castrate resistant to qualify. It typically slows the cancer progression.
Another immunotherapy is Yervoy.

Spot radiation can be very helpful for mets.
Research into radiation therapy might be best.
Good luck.

Post Edited (robertC) : 6/14/2015 11:08:00 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/14/2015 9:16 AM (GMT -8)
Hi JD,
I agree with Robert. You are probably jumping the gun on immunotherapy. Provenge has a good website if you want to check it out. You do want to be aware of the timing. Although it is has mixed reviews about effectiveness and it is exorbitant in price, you can't wait until your dad is taking narcotics for pain..disqualifies him.
Beth n Gary
Posted 6/14/2015 10:31 AM (GMT -8)
JD,

I was/am in a similar situation as your father. Provenge is tough to get if he isn't hormone resistant (meaning, hormone therapy is not effective). Provenge (and frankly most of the advanced therapies, are not cures...but allow you to keep it at bay for years. I'm on year 5 of discovering I had bone mets in my pelvis and am a Gleason 9.

Lots of options out there. Let us know how we can help.

Jerry
Posted 6/14/2015 11:38 AM (GMT -8)
To qualify for Provenge I had to have 2 PSA increases at least 14 days apart while on ADT.

I agree you need to first meet with a medical oncologist who specializes in PCa. The 3 associates in Marina del Rey at Prostate Oncology group are all great Dr Mark Scholz, Dr. Richard Lam or Dr. Jeffrey Turner who I see.

If you ultimately decide on radiaiton, I highly recommend Dr. Chris King at UCLA who did my SBRT that I timed to be concourrent with Provenge. His associate Dr. Jeffrey Demannes is also excellent if you decide to do IMRT with a boost

Radiaiton and Immunotherapy may be complementary to one another

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