Microchip man's quest for the right treatment

Andy Groves was the Chief Executive Officer of the largest microchip company in the world, when in the autumn of 1994 his family doctor of 20 years retired.  His new doctor gave him a routine 'well man' check up.  The only abnormality was a PSA blood test result, slightly higher than normal (5 rather than 4).

The doctor did not seem too concerned, so Andy didn't get anxious either and put off the whole issue without much thought.  He did, however, happen to tell one of his daughters, who is a healthcare professional.  She told a doctor friend of hers and eventually some six months later at the age of 58 just after Intel had published its results showing sales of $13.5 billion, he had his PSA tested again.  Twice, at two different labs because he was a suspicious soul. 6.0 and 6.1, which ended his procrastination and led to a series of tests which confirmed the presence of a tumour.

What to do now?
As the patient, Andy had to make some choices about what, if anything, to do.  None of the choices are good. None of the treatments work all the time, and all of them can have unpleasant side effects.  Testword.  So, should it be surgery, radiotherapy or doing nothing?

Andy decided to do his own research just as he had in silicon device physics 30 years before. So he talked to more than 15 doctors and half a dozen patients over a five month period.

He finally chose a recently developed variation on the radiation theme.  In this technique, a radioactive seed is attached to a wire that is momentarily inserted into the patient's prostate through a number of hollow tubes, one after the other.  The procedure is performed with the patient under local anaesthesia.

Andy's own words
I headed up to Seattle on the evening flight. Although my wife was with me, I didn't feel like talking.  The next morning, I got on the conveyer belt.  It was no different than any outpatient procedure: questionnaires, routine tests and finally, anaesthesia.

I later saw the film of my body with the 16 parallel needles in it; it reminded me of a porcupine.  Computations were done to figure out how long the radioactive seed should take traversing in and out of each of the hollow needles.  They used an Intel 286, a product that we introduced 13 years earlier and stopped producing four years ago.

Three weeks after the end of radiation, I was scheduled to give the keynote speech at Telecom 95 in Geneva, Switzerland.  The preparations for the speech were demanding, and the speech itself was the most high-profile of my career but I felt fine and it all went well.

Andy's advice
"First, tumours grow.  Sometimes they grow quickly, sometimes very slowly, but they do grow.  I think you should hit a tumour with what you believe is your best shot, early and hard.  In my case, it was a combination of hormones, high-dose-rate implant radiation and external radiation.  For others, like Senator Dole and General Schwarzkopf, it was surgery.

All the debates notwithstanding, PSA tests are a godsend.  They give you the next best thing to not having cancer: They give you time.  I feel very strongly that if you are a middle-aged man, you should have this test done regularly.  Given the rapid rate at which some prostate cancers grow, I would opt for a frequency of once a year.  What PSA gives you is the chance to act early.  Don't blow it."

Bringing the story up to date
Andy Groves is in good health and still working at Intel, now as Chairman of the Board.  More than 2000 patients have now received the sort of treatment he had.  The first from the UK flew to Seattle for his four hour session in October of last year.  In this country, brachytherapy as it is known is now available at a few NHS hospitals.