Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/02/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]After reading all of the posts on the subject, I'm inclined to tell my story. For several years I was getting a testosterone shots every six months because of a low level of same. One of these times, my regular physician was on vacation, the replacement guy observed my PSA level and announced he would not authorize the shot without first knowing why that level was high. I had a nine-needle biopsy and one of the nine picked up cancer cells. I call that a needle in a haystack; the group of cells was only a fraction of a centimeter long. Sheer luck that it was picked up! The bad news was that the pathologists said the type of cancer was very aggressive. Radiation and a hormone suppressant was the recommended treatment and I had to choose between radioactive seeds and what is misnamed "intensity modulated radiation therapy". The ex-physicist in me regarded the former as pretty damn inaccurate compared to the latter. It should be called "beam cross-section modulated therapy". Put simply, a linear accelerator fires electrons at a target producing x-rays. The x-ray beam is shaped by a diaphragm made of tungsten leaves. The apparatus rotates around the patient, pausing at a number of positions. At each position, the beam is shaped to match the shape of the prostate as viewed from said position. This minimizes radiation damage to other parts. I really lucked out. No significant side effects. PSA has stayed low the past eleven years; I'll be 90 in June. Herb I was pretty pissed off at my doctor. I wrote a letter to him, with copy to the head of the clinic, stating that his having been on vacation probably saved my life. -- Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you.