Now we know what the A stands for in T.A.S.E.R
Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
91–100 of 115 posts
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#92I had PC in my early 40s, over 15 years ago now. If that treatment had been available then I might still opt for surgical removal. The peace of mind of getting the thing out is huge and the side effects for me were negligible, as I had a great surgeon and recovery for younger patients is pretty good. In my 60s I would definitely go for something like this although I'm always a little leery of treatments that have coo…
Early 40s sounds kind of young to have it. How did you/they find out that you had it? Anyway good that it worked out well for you.
Yeah, it was a surprise. Discovered by experienced family doc, followed by PSA and biopsy.
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#93My uncle recently had this procedure here in the US. His hospital tried to push him quickly toward a surgical option, but he did his own research and eventually found this. It cost him $15k out of pocket, he now has a clean bill of health, and as a bonus he avoided potential/likely erectile dysfunction.
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that this is old as the hills. I was reading a text recently that cited medical claims of electricity curing cancers in the 1870s. I'd assume there's more nuance this time around. At least I'd hope so. The article points to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreversible_electroporation You can do quite a bit with electrical signals, perhaps there's some novel instruments and feedback loops being used
There's something called tumor treating fields that uses electric fields for treating glioblastoma. Fascinating stuff.
Last I checked, glioblastoma is still 100% fatal, so I guess all that can do is prolong the lifespan?
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#95I heard an interview on one of NPR shows last week and the guest talked about using electricity for healing. For example, if I remember correctly, a wound treated in someway with electricity healed faster. It had something to do with stimulating the cells in a particular way. Side note: Does this give any credibility to the idea that magnets can heal?
You may be referring to this[0], which was discussed on HN last week. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35060657
I think he means this:
Listen to: Harnessing The Electricity In The Human Body - https://one.npr.org/i/1161296499:1161962636
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#96Checkmate cancer
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read its effective at treating lung and liver cancers too. Early diagnosis is key to survival.
Your second sentence merits millions of upvotes. Many health care provision systems don't invest in screening tests or other early-detection schemes, or they do make them available, but don't invest in raising awareness of their availability. I'm actually now at the age where I should start thinking about "What new periodic tests/checkups should you introduce within the next 5 years?" ... and at this point I'm still…
Beware: more testing does not imply better outcomes. There are many situations where a test result may show something that apparently "need to be addressed", but the side effects and problems caused by "addressing" that result is, on average, worse than the result of never having tested in the first place.
Of course, many tests are valuable, with results that can lead to effective treatment. But, it's hard to know which is which without significant study.
Refs:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/13/1104141... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8628817/ https://www.americanpatient.org/medical-tests-to-avoid-that-...
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's something called tumor treating fields that uses electric fields for treating glioblastoma. Fascinating stuff.
Last I checked, glioblastoma is still 100% fatal, so I guess all that can do is prolong the lifespan?
Unfortunately so is the human condition.
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
My father had Nanoknife for pancreatic cancer; it wasn't a cure, but it reduced the tumour enough to buy him another couple of years.
Was he having a good quality of life after the operation? Also what stage was he at when they used this procedure?
It was incurable and his life expectancy was estimated in months at that point. I'm not too sure if a "stage" was defined. His outlook largely depended on how further rounds of unpleasant chemo went - whereas Nanoknife, as far as I recall, was a single day out-patient thing (?)
I recall him telling me that he asked the staff how long it would be before they could start and they told him they were about half way through!
Quality of life: damage to the pancreas was not reversible, but the tumour was very much reduced and there was no further deterioration for a good while. For usnit was worth it (despite not being available on the NHS at that time).
Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Was he having a good quality of life after the operation? Also what stage was he at when they used this procedure?
It was incurable and his life expectancy was estimated in months at that point. I'm not too sure if a "stage" was defined. His outlook largely depended on how further rounds of unpleasant chemo went - whereas Nanoknife, as far as I recall, was a single day out-patient thing (?) I recall him telling me that he asked the staff how long it would be before they could start and they told him they were about half way throu…
> I recall him telling me that he asked the staff how long it would be before they could start and they told him they were about half way through!
that's the therapies we want to see more of
happy that your family could enjoy some more time
take care