Salvage Therapy – If your PSA is less than 1.0, your first treatment endeavor when you experience a recurrence will be salvage therapy. The objective of salvage therapy is to reduce or eliminate any lingering prostate cancer cells. Salvage therapy must begin as soon as possible after you know that the cancer has recurred. The appropriate salvage therapy depends upon the primary treatment you received. Ask your doctor.
With most salvage therapy attempts, you should consider including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), also called “hormone therapy.” There is extensive research, especially in the case of failed primary surgery, suggesting that a course of ADT can extend your life.
We now have significantly improving scanning technology that might allow your doctor to identify precisely where there is a recurrence, allowing a targeted treatment directed to the actual site of the recurrence.