Prostate Cancer vs General susceptability to Cancer

Since I had prostate cancer, what is the probability that I might
develop other cancers?

Just wondering whether to go full tilt boogie into radically changing
my diet (fairly good already), alkalizing my system, and snorting
selenium for recreational purposes?

Or whether I should get a full body scan?

On June 11, Dwight wrote:

> Since I had prostate cancer, what is the probability that I might
> develop other cancers?

(snip)

There seems to be a statistically-small but "significant" risk of
development of other cancers after tx via RT.

According to the study Brenner DJ, et al., "Second malignancies in
prostate carcinoma patients after radiotherapy compared with surgery":

"In absolute terms, the estimated risk of developing a
radiation-associated second malignancy was 1 in 290 for all prostate
carcinoma patients treated with radiotherapy, increasing to 1 in 70 for
long term survivors (>/= 10 years). Improvements in radiotherapeutic
techniques, along with diagnosis at younger ages and earlier stages, are
resulting in longer survival times for patients with prostate carcinoma.
Because of the long latency period for radiation-induced tumors, this
may result in radiation-related second malignancy risk becoming a more
significant issue."

Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University, New York, New
York 10032.

Pub Med ID: 10640974.

Pub Med is a service of the US National Library of Medicine.

I do not know of evidence that PCa in and of itself increases a man's
odds of developing other cancers.

> Just wondering whether to go full tilt boogie into radically changing
> my diet (fairly good already), alkalizing my system, and snorting
> selenium for recreational purposes?
>
> Or whether I should get a full body scan?

I will now descend into anecdote-land. I have periodic blood tests that
have so far failed to detect any other cancers.

Those tests are: chromogranin-A (CGA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE),
and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA, a rather generic cancer test).

With regard to PCa, I have annual nuclear bone scans, too. That's how I
discovered an uptake at my third thoracic vertebra that I am now
treating with IGRT.

We must never, ever, lower our guard.

Regards,

Steve J

"The price of freedom from prostate cancer is eternal vigilance."
--paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson

On Jun 11, 3:18*pm, Steve Jordan <mycrofts...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> "In absolute terms, the estimated risk of developing a
> radiation-associated second malignancy was 1 in 290 for all prostate
> carcinoma patients treated with radiotherapy, increasing to 1 in 70 for
> long term survivors (>/= 10 years). Improvements in radiotherapeutic
> techniques, along with diagnosis at younger ages and earlier stages, are
> resulting in longer survival times for patients with prostate carcinoma.
> Because of the long latency period for radiation-induced tumors, this
> may result in radiation-related second malignancy risk becoming a more
> significant issue."

One more it on my list of reasons for choosing surgery and not
radiation.

On Jun 11, 11:54*am, Dwight <nodamnspa...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Since I had prostate cancer, what is the probability that I might
> develop other cancers?
>
> Just wondering whether to go full tilt boogie into radically changing
> my diet (fairly good already), alkalizing my system, and snorting
> selenium for recreational purposes?
>
> Or whether I should get a full body scan?

Hi Dwight...There have been a number of papers comparing the incidence
of various illnesses (including "other" cancers) in men with and
without PCa (one of the better papers, IMO, is "Causes of Death in
Elderly Prostate Cancer Patients and in a Comparison Nonprostate
Cancer Cohort"; Craig J. Newschaffer, Koichiro Otani, M. Kathleen
McDonald, Lynne T. Penberthy; Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, Vol. 92, No. 8, April 19, 2000). There are so many biases
that confound these studies (as pointed out in the article I
referenced) that it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions. My
"take away" from these papers is that men with PCa appear to have a
risk similar to the general population for contracting a variety of
other diseases with the following two caveats:
1) there does appear to be an increased risk of bladder cancer
(prostate cancer) for men who have PCa (bladder cancer) and,
2) the increased risk of secondary cancers for men undergoing XBRT
that Steve J has pointed out. BTW, the Brenner paper is, IMO, an
excellent study and the full text is available at Dr. Brenner's home
page
http://www.columbia.edu/~djb3/#top
...ron

On Jun 11, 1:54 pm, Dwight <nodamnspa...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Since I had prostate cancer, what is the probability that I
> might develop other cancers?
>
> Just wondering whether to go full tilt boogie into radically
> changing my diet (fairly good already), alkalizing my system,
> and snorting selenium for recreational purposes?
>
> Or whether I should get a full body scan?

As Steve and Ron pointed out, there is a very small but non-zero
risk that radiation treatment can cause changes that result in
other cancers years later.

Given that, a full body scan is the last thing you want to do if
you have no specific reason for it. As I understand it, a full
body scan delivers more radiation than any other diagnostic form
of x-ray, and delivers it to the entire body, not just the region
around the prostate.

Radiation damage is also cumulative. I don't know what the
numbers are currently thought to be, but if you got a full body
scan once a year, you'd put yourself at very significant risk.
So don't do it unless you really need it.

Selenium is also potentially dangerous. We need some of it, and
there is apparently evidence that a selenium deficiency increases
the risk of PCa. But taking too much can cause other health
problems.

As for "alkalizing your system", I'm not sure what that means,
but it sounds like something that quacks are eager to sell. For
the most part, one's pH balance is regulated homeostatically
(i.e. autmoatically by the body) and doesn't need any treatment
to raise or lower the pH. In fact, the body will compensate for
most such treatments and reverse them to keep the blood at the
proper pH.

My advice would be the boring standard advice that doctors always
give: eat right, get lots of exercise, get regular checkups, and
stop worrying. We're going to die one day. We've known that
since we were kids. Let's pay more attention to enjoying and
making the most of the time we have rather than spending it
worrying about when it will end.

Alan