Dr. Peter Scardino’s Prostate Book
This link was provided to me by Bill Vancil – read the various reviews and keep a airline “sick sack” nearby. Bill Vancil will be interviewed very soon on Protons. I guess I’ll have to buy a used book in about a year to see what the good Dr. said.
Comment by Richard Wright
I accidently stumbled into your web site but I have a question. I had surgery for Prostate cancer 11-25-2003. After surgery my PSA was .015, which is good. Since then it has risen to .02 slowly and incrementaly. My doctors have some concerns but wants to see if my PSA stablelizes before looking into radiation surgery. I go to my doctor every 3 months and my next visit is August 2005. Is this normal after Prostate surgery or should I start looking into the radiation surgery?
Posted on June 4, 2005 at 6:57 am
Comment by jjtug
I am not a doctor and do not know your physical condition or prostate surgery situation. However, Proton Therapy, the treatment I had over five years ago is NOT surgery but an extremely accurate method using proton radiation to treat the cancer with minimal side effects. In my case, I do not have any side effects. My current PSA is less than .1. I suggest you get a Loma Linda second opinion, they do quite a few post surgery treatments and would give you the right advice. Go to my website at http://www.prostateproton.com for a link to Loma Linda
Posted on June 4, 2005 at 7:59 am
Comment by jjtug
OK. On my way to and from Alaska last week, in flight I read Dr. Scardino’s Prostate Book twice. Below are my opinions based upon my personal experiences and observations. Published in 2005 it is full of useful information however, it is incomplete!
Dr. Scardino admits in his book that refers often to Memorial Sloan-Kettering treatments, as he says, “doctors tend to be biased in favor of what they do.”
It appears from the text in the book that Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s
distinguished urologists and radiation doctors have not thoroughly studied
the advantages of Protons. I believe if they had met with Drs. James M.
Slater, the founder of Proton Therapy at Loma Linda or Jerry Slater, the
Chairman of the Proton Treatment center at Loma Linda they may have provided
more information on Protons. This superior Proton therapy is barely and incorrectly acknowledged on
less than a page in a 425 page book.
Doctors JAMES AND JERRY Slater at Loma Linda and their colleagues are the
world leaders in the use of Protons to treat Prostate cancer and in addition many other
tumors both malignant and benign.
This is a correctable research failure, I speak as one of the 7,000 men
treated with Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer at Loma Linda in 1999. In my
case, I have none of the side effects described in the “Prostate Book”, over
5 years and 9 months post treatment completed on August 27, 1999.
Further, if you only consider options for Prostate Cancer described in the
”Prostate Book” you must logically conclude that the centers linked on my
web site http://www.prostateproton.com are lesser effective options. I don’t think so.
With Loma Linda in California, Mass. General in Boston, and MPRI in Bloomington,
Indiana currently functioning, and with The RINECKER PROTON TREATMENT CENTER IN MUNICH, GERMANY IN START-UP, MD Anderson (Read the current June 2005 Fortune Magazine) opening their Proton Center in January 2006, Shands Cancer in Jacksonville
IN JULY 2006, and others (UNIV. OF PENN, COLUMBIA PRESBYTERIAN, ETC.
ALONG WITH SEVENTEEN MORE AROUND THE WORLD), PROTON THERAPY IS CLEARLY A TECHNOLOGY WHOSE TIME HAS COME.
Contrary to what is written in the Prostate Book, page 305, Proton therapy
is not “Extraordinarily cumbersome” but elegant and simple. I have studied
everything Loma Linda experts have said and do not find so called
”extravagant claims” and wonder why the researchers for the book did not
find the published papers that clearly state the efficacy of Proton Therapy,
in fact there are 5, 7, and 10 year studies.
While I do not have any side effects, I am sure that depending on each
individual physical condition and medical history on entering the program
that results can vary. Thirty men that I specifically sponsor, none have
any side effects except some who have minor ED and they are over 80 years
old.
I urge a meeting between Doctors Scardino, Fuks, Zelefsky and Leibel and
Loma Linda Drs. James. M. Slater, Jerry Slater and the doctor who treated
me, Dr. Carl Rossi Jr., so the MSK can expand their radiation thinking and
recognize that IMRT is X-Ray/PHOTON treatment without a significant track record,
and Protons are not X-rays and have A COMPREHENSIVE, HALF CENTURY OF DATA.
Further, I believe that by mid-fall a protocol should be established to run
similar patients side by side who have IMRT and Protons with a target five
year and ten year results with a minimum of 1,500 patients in each
discipline. I am sure that Protons will hold their own and prove
convincingly that there are fewer side effects with this therapy.
”The prostate Book” is a very informative book, clarifies many rumors and
tales about the prostate and urges an extremely important second opinion.
It is very weak on the subject of Proton Therapy but of course, that is not
what the book is selling!
My hope is that my suggestions are accepted and that Dr. Scardino will offer
these additional thoughts on his web sites at http://www.drscardino.com or
http://www.theprostatebook.com.
H. “Jim” Tuggey
June 18, 2005
http://www.prostateproton.com
NO MEDICAL ADVICE: Material appearing here represents opinions offered by non-medically-trained laypersons. Comments shown here should NEVER be interpreted as specific medical advice and must be used only as background information when consulting with a qualified medical professional.
Posted on June 22, 2005 at 3:59 am