A recent report stated that for Salvage Radiation to be most effective it
should start befor the PSA reaches 1.

I did read research last year and one report stated (in the study) there was
statistical significance for success for people getting  SR with a PSA of
.46 or lower.

I believe that there was a 77% chance of biochemical free relapse at the 5
year mark - for men that received SR before there PSA hit .46
That's close to 8 out of 10 men having a chance for cure or at least long
term remission. These numbers were almost the same as for men that received
adjuvant radiation.

A study just came out yeseterday JAMA and the lead researcher/physician
stated that he would give every men that had a positive margins radiation
regardless of psa - even if it was <0.1  Alot of people disagree with him
since a high percentage of men that have positive margins never have an
increase in their psa.

SR is still controversial and confusing.  It works for some men and not for
others since there are so many variables invovled - positive margins,
seminal vesicle involvement, time to psa rise, doubling time, gleason grade
etc.... Most of the research over the past few years state that the chances
for a cure or long term remission is 50/50 with Salvage radiation.

My rad/onc told me that there is a 50% chance that after SR your PSA will
be<0.1 and a 50% chance after that it will remain <0.1 So he was telling me
the chances of it working long term were around 25%.

My answer would be yes to get SR as soon as possible after you know your psa
is rising. To get it before your psa reaches .46 would be ideal according to
one study.  Only problem is you might not have a rise or your doubling time
may be well over one year OR it may stay at 0.2 etc...

This is why you have to stay on top of things with your physician and get
2nd and 3rd opinions with specialists. Most people wait a few months to find
out if it is a true rise - 3 continous rises - over 9 months  or wait for it
to double once again from 0.2 to 0.4 etc......

The choice is yours. It is better to be totally informed about SR before
making a decision. Ask the experts (rad/onc, surgeons etc) in your area or a
close major metropolitan area before you make a decision. Most of the
members of this newsgroup are also experts in PCa in my opinion.

Wishing you the best of health.

Dave P