History - diagnosed with PC in Aug '06. Chose seed implant but prostate too large, so received a hormone shot (Lupron) to shrink the prostate.. this was successful so the day the shrinkage test sonogram was done, the Dr gave me another Lupron shot, but didn't say why. When I visited the Oncologist that will assist in the implant he asked why I had gotten the second shot. I told him that I didn't know but that the urologist had said I would get Lupron every 4 months for two years. When I returned to the urologist for the visit prior to the volume study I asked about the Lupron plan. He said that almost 100% of his patients experienced a lowering of their psa shortly after the hormone shot to .0 and stayed there for several months.(My psa was 6.3 at the time of my biopsy and increased to 7.9 shortly thereafter.)

My psa has not been below 3.2 after either of the hormone shots. I asked the urologist if this was an indication the cancer had spread outside the prostate. He said probably not, but he is concerned that if my tumors (2) are hormone resistant will they also be radiation resistant?

It seems to me that if the cancer is as radiation resistant as it is hormone resistant that the upcoming (next week) implant is likely to fail.......

Can anyone advise me as to the availability of info on this please.

A recent article from Prostate cancer Research Institute site indicated a considerably better outcome for men who did not experience a PSA rise during hormone treatment given prior to rradiation therapy:

". At five years only 39% of men who experienced a PSA increase during neoadjuvant hormone therapy were cancer free compared with 65% of men who did not experience a rise in PSA levels.
. Overall survival rates at five years were 83% for men whose PSA increased during neoadjuvant therapy compared with 90% among men with no PSA increase during that time period.
. Significantly more men died of their disease if their PSA levels increased during neoadjuvant therapy compared to those whose PSA levels did not rise during that time."

I can not copy the full material here, as this board does not allow articles from websites.

Thank You AUS. Not good news, but thank you for responding.