I have had radiation therapy for prostate cancer and my cancer has recurred. Can I have cryotherapy?
The answer to this question is a definite yes. Many patients who have had previous radiation therapy, either external beam, seed implantation, or a combination, develop a biopsy proven recurrence in the prostate gland and need further treatment. Salvage cryotherapy is an excellent modality for patients with this type of disease. The only other options for these patients are hormonal therapy, watchful waiting, or consideration of a salvage radical prostatectomy. However, it has been shown that a salvage radical prostatectomy offers no statistically significant increase in overall survival and may be fraught with a higher complication rate even in experienced hands.
