Monday, July 31, 2017

Wouldn't It Be Nice; A Whimsical Diversion

 An extremely frustrating aspect of a PCa diagnosis has been the lack of consensus among the recognized experts. Most all practitioners including urologists, radiologists (a diverse group unto themselves), medical oncologists and a variety of surgeons appear to regard us as an ideal candidate for their area of expertise. Too often we PCa warriors rely on the first specialist we encounter or equally worrisome we research our options to the best of our ability and base our decision on woefully incomplete data. Either way it's a crap shoot. For the life of me (said with tongue only partly in cheek), I can think of no other affliction where the treatment choice is so problematic. 
 A couple of months ago the TV program "Sixty Minutes" covered a potential solution to our dilemma. The show featured a cancer center located at the University of North Carolina where a team of experts develop treatment plans for cancer patients who have failed standard therapy using the computerized Watson System of Artificial Intelligence. AI capability enables the team to formulate more effective plans based on all the medical literature published world wide including up-to-date clinical trial data.
Wouldn't it be nice if one institute or another with Watson AI capability focused on prostate cancer? Us PCa warriors can only hope.

To view a transcript of the Sixty Minutes segment; see:   

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with you about the frustrating tunnel vision shown by most of the medical field who tend to have the "hammer and the nail syndrome." It would be amazing to have Prostate cancer specialists who were Objective and were able to offer information about the most up to date and medically appropriate treatments for the individual patient. Instead, we have encountered the conventional cookie cutter aproach to PCa. In our personal experience, our urologist only sees radiation and surgery as worthwhile treatments. Everything else p is off of his radar and not a part of the regional system. If it is not available through this urologists office, then , it seems to follow in his mind, that it shouldn't even be considered....
Very frustrating indeed.
I love the sound of the Watson System and wish it were available for PCa and for all cancers.

Thanks for the link to the 60m Minutes show.

Elena

Unknown said...


I have a new urologist that is exactly that- best recommended urologist in the area. When I asked him a out curcumin he brushed it off by saying he didn't know anything about that (with a little disgust in his eye) He was also flabbergasted that I didn't have cancer spreading everywhere and could not understand why my testosterone was higher than his. His wish was to fill me with Lupron. On the other hand the oncologist was more reasonable working with e on a watch and wait since I am 79 years old. In a few days I will have the pleasure of visiting with him again and watch him explain how my psa dropped from 22.3 back to 18.86. Oncologist said he wasn't expecting anything but up 2 or 3 more points. For the record my psa exactly two years ago was 18.06 so I am no where doubling in velocity. Just to be sure curcumin is not all I do and I did add two more items to my plan a few days before the last psa.