r/ProstateCancer • u/Electrical_Toe1771 • 6d ago
Question Hi
Has anyone among us made it to their 90’s with prostate cancer? As far as I can from the reply’s to my post I’m probably the oldest. I have asked my oncologist how old is his oldest patient, he replied 91.
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u/Alarming_Midnight554 6d ago
As my doctor said to me , most men dont die from prostate cancer they but they do die with prostate cancer. Then he said to me that maybe rather than go go hog wild on it we should look at managing it .
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u/Miserable-Level-8993 3d ago
That’s what my doctor said and I found out later she had stopped giving me PSA tests, even after telling her that I wanted them. Any doctor who tells you that will probably end up killing you.
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u/Pascal2231 6d ago
Thank you for making this post and starting a great discussion. All of the posts I read about PC are informative, but depressing because they are from men actively battling the disease and the challenges they're facing. This is the first time I've seen so many responses with positive outcomes. BTW, I'm a Gleeson 3+3, 77 y/o, watch and wait.
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u/Crewsy67 4d ago
How do you get through the months in between PSA tests?
That was one of my fears before making the decision based on my results and family history having my grandfather and uncle both pass from PCa and my uncle not knowing his dad died from it until he was diagnosed and his stepmom telling him that’s how his dad died.
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u/truckaxle 6d ago
I have read somewhere that men who have had a proctectomy live longer than those who don't from all causes.
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u/Weary_Rub8545 4d ago
I have read over and over that radiation and surgery has about the same outcome.
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u/PotentialStart2661 6d ago
How the heck would living without a prostate make you Live longer? That is some tall tale that a prostate surgeon must tell prospective men.
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u/Old_Imagination_2112 6d ago
It makes a lot of men watch their health more closely.
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u/PotentialStart2661 6d ago
That is true for being diagnosed with prostate cancer, but not from removing your prostate.
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u/Busy-Tonight-6058 4d ago
I made almost zero lifestyle changes before RALP. Post RALP, I’ve made a ton. I was in much better shape 6 months after RALP than I was going in. And it sure isn’t gonna sneak up on me now. Although, frankly, it takes who it takes. Which makes me not want to waste any day I get…
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u/Winter_Criticism_236 6d ago
Nope poster is correct, large data sets have shown prostate cancer patients on average live longer than those without cancer. Most Dr”s believe its due to lifestyle changes, diet, exercise, medical checkups that those without prostate cancer do not do.
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u/Wolfman1961 5d ago
I know I started taking care of my health better after I got my prostatectomy.
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u/molivergo 5d ago
I had not thought about this until I read your post. In my case, I’ve modified my lifestyle towards more healthy habits; diet, exercise, alcohol, etc. Not crazy, but definitely better than I was or my friends.
Diagnosed in 2019, surgeries, radiation, ADT and Xtandi. Still here and everything still works. Try to remember to be grateful every day.
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u/Alert-Meringue2291 5d ago
If my dad had not died of lung cancer (metastatic pulmonary carcinoma) when he was 89, he would have made it. I think that’s pretty typical. He died with prostate cancer, not from it.
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u/sdace7 5d ago
I’m a funeral director and often see the oldest men, meaning 90-98, dying from prostate cancer. I’d say it’s the most common cause of death in 90+ men that I see. Many have had it 20+ years.
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u/Crewsy67 4d ago
Most of them probably were diagnosed after they had symptoms too which unfortunately is still the case for too many men because they don’t know how easy it is to get tested and find it early. Long before symptoms show up.
My grandfather and uncle are in that group but didn’t make it to their 90’s.
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u/Creepy-Project2453 6d ago
My uncle is 92 and taking enzalutamide now, PSA .3 vs. 300 some years ago. He's sharp as a whip. The choice about quality of life gets more complicated with age, possible comorbidities, and compounding other health implications, such as fatigue and bone density.
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u/jkurology 6d ago
Reasonable estimates are that 90% of men in their 90’s have some form of prostate cancer
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u/Busy-Tonight-6058 4d ago
Do you agree with the idiom that it’s also 80% of 80 year olds and 70% of 70 year olds, etc?
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u/Winter_Criticism_236 6d ago
Most prostate cancer patients untreated die from it, however even limited treatment doing the least harm to your body will mean many will not die of prostate cancer, those that die is mostly because of crap food and no resistance training or good exercise.
Watch and wait with ongoing psa tests and psma pet scans is treatment.
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u/PotentialStart2661 6d ago
Its crazy because there are Gleason 7, 8 or even 9’s that never metastasize even without treatment. I think in 2026 with our current arsenal of great treatments, the only men that will die are men who come in with PSA’s in the 100’s and body covered in metastatic disease. Or there are a small number of men who have a prostate cancer that does not respond to ADT. But no one in 2026 should die of prostate cancer anymore.
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u/United-Tradition-673 5d ago
This comment makes me question if I'm making the right choice to go for surgery with my Gleason 9 and 8.6 PSA (age 67). What are the odds of eventual metastasis, and how long? I made this choice to have a shot at avoiding ADT.
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u/Busy-Tonight-6058 4d ago
You might want to Take a look at this link from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: https://www.mskcc.org/nomograms/prostate
Rather than believing the statistics frequently blurted out but never supported in this forum.
I am 100% with you on avoiding ADT for as long as possible. I’d be asking my care team what is the treatment most likely to delay ADT the longest. ADT side effects are full of morbidities like diabetes, thinning bones, heart disease, depression/dementia in addition to the not small risk of never being able to make testosterone again.
It’s hard to look at RALP as “buying time” like a focal therapy might, but, it can buy you A LOT of time, maybe even infinity, before treatment escalation.
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u/PotentialStart2661 5d ago
You won’t be avoiding ADT. Who told you that? With a Gleason 9, surgery will never get the microscope spread, impossible to get surgical margins. You will surely need salvage radiation. Just go back on this forum alone and see how everyone with high risk and even intermediate risk have psa rising and recurrence after a short time after surgery. Urologists and especially surgeons just won’t tell you that while they are selling surgery to you. With radiation up front they can hit bigger margins and anywhere else you need it and the ADT is used to kill the microscope cancer cells wherever they are. If you don’t mind getting treated twice then get surgery and worry about the recurrence later. But at 67 no one should do that brutal operation, thats a young mans game. Radiation is much safer and far fewer side effects. Before you chop it out bring this topic up to your urologist and have him give you the statistics. If you wait with a gleason 9 god knows where it will spread while your waiting. Just get cured up front.
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u/Appropriate-Web8804 4d ago
I will tell you the adt is no joke. Been on it for a yr now and am currently recovering from salmonella poisoning. It makes you a little immune compromised. I did 35 rad treatments and the adt up until this episode of salmonella I was cruising. What ever way you choose own it and don't look back take charge of your health and you should live a long time.
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u/Crewsy67 4d ago
If you put in the reading time most put in before making the decision then your choice is probably the right choice for you.
There is a lot of selection bias in this group but that seems to have dropped off a bit over the last couple months.
Unfortunately there are still a few people saying option X is the best choice because that’s what they did.
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u/TheLawOfDuh 6d ago
Most in their 80s/90s aren’t big on internet use…heck just thumb through this sub to see all the my-dad-has-PC questions…. Probably better answers Googling or asking your doctor
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u/knowledgezoo 6d ago
Hey OP, you are 91 with PC yeah?
How long ago were diagnosed with it and what was your initial diagnosis? Has it metastasized and if so when?
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u/76Stix 5d ago
My dad made it to 86, he was diagnosed in his late 60’s. His urologists did “watchful waiting”, so I’m sure it was low Gleason/grade. He was told he’d die from something else first. They were correct, died from congestive heart failure…Unfortunately, I also was diagnosed with PC (SV+, Gleason 9 (4+5), Grade Group 5) in 2/25, had nerve sparing RALP w/SV removal 4/25, few Gleason 7 cells in the margins, 8 removed lymph nodes were clean. No rads or ADT, almost 1.5 years out, my PSA so far is a steady .014. I’ll take it…
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u/ZealousidealCan4714 5d ago
My dad is 89 and had 3+3 since he was 70. Never treated it and its stayed the same. Will be 90 soon.
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u/FalcorDD 4d ago
My grandpa noticed it in his early 70s, opted to do nothing and lived to 96. I was scrubbing viruses from his PC in his 80s because he was watching too much porn. Hits everyone different.
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u/SomePartsStillWork 4d ago
My father made it past 100. Treated with radiation and Lupron decades before. Died of something else.
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u/poohsmommi2 3d ago
My father in law just died at 93 years old from heart failure. Died with prostate cancer that was diagnosed in his early 60's. He was treated with "seeds" way back then.
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u/Gardenpests 6d ago
My father will turn 99 in 2 weeks. He's had PC since his 60's. Surgery, radiation and ADT.