Specialist Needed

My Father has recurrent prostate cancer.  He is in the early stage of this disease.  His PSA is 8 right now and he has been on a second round of hormone therapy (NILUTAMIDE).  He is being seen by a physician at CTRC in San Antonio Texas but his phisician has left the practice.  I am in need of a specialist oncologist that deals with recurrent prostate cancer.  Does anyone know of a specialist in San Antonio Texas that he may be referred to.  Thank you.

John Pardue. 

Where has your fathers cancer recurred?  And what treatment did he have initially and what were the Gleason score and initial PSA..

no cancer has been detected yet, just a rising PSA.  My Father had a prostectomy in 1994 and PSA began rising again four years later. He then was started on hormone shot once a month but the side affects were to much for him to handle.  He had casteration done and that seemed to keep PSA in check for 10 years.  He discovered his PSA rising again in 2004.  He went on casadex and that seemed to work for about a year and a half. His PSA began to rise again and he was put on a second round of hormone therap.  His Phisician was spectical of it working but it has for 6 months with his lowest reading of 7.4.  The last reading in January 2007showed PSA to begin creeping up again to 8.  He has had two bone and cat scans but nothing has showed up on test except for osteoporosus. His old Physician had a mentality of waiting for something to show up on scans but I do not want to wait for that to happen.  He is considered to have hormone refractory cancer.  He drinks 8 ounces of Pomgranite juice daily and is on a low fat no sugar diet. He seems to be doing fine but I want to try everything to keep him alive.  He is 72 years old and will be 73 in April 2007.  I do not know what his gleason score was. Thank you.           

What about going to MD Anderson in Houston TX? Get your DR to make a referal

I asked my Father to do that but he thinks that a city the size of San Antonio Texas there has to be a specialist here that can treat him just as well as MD Anderson. Does the user community think he will get better care at MD Anderson in Houston?  Has anyone ever been in this situation where no cancer is showing on scans yet the PSA still rises.

I would treat the osteoporosis aggressively.  The second thing is I would get a PET scan to find out where the tumor is located.  He possibly could have locally recurrent disease.  If so the options are to watch it give local therapy.  If they had the means to work it up, and it was locally recurrent after prostatectomy then maybe he could have been spared the hormonal therapy.

Your father is wrong about assuming San Antonio has any great experts. You are very lucky that at MD Anderson in Houston you have Dr. Greg Logithetis who is one of the foremost experts in prostate cancer. Make that trip. Don't let your father make his own situation worse by ignoring a great resource so close to you.