can you remove the prostate for prostate cancer if you have had radiation (external or seeds)? well…yes and no.

Review of “Salvage” options if prostate cancer comes back after radiation.

One of the most common reasons I am given by patients choosing to have their prostate removed is the argument that one can do radiation after surgery but you can’t (easily) do surgery after radiation. It is a valid argument and I think something to consider in the decision-making process.  The concept is, however, not that cut and dried. Here are some caveats.

• If you have your prostate removed and at some point your PSA goes up then that means there is residual disease. In most cases the disease is microscopic and local (near the bed from which the prostate was removed). In this case where there may be a very small amount of disease then external beam radiation can “clean up” the residual disease for a curative intent. An example would be may be a very small…