He got radiation treatment (for prostate!) at 67? That's very odd -- radiation treatment is not recommended for a patient who would be expected to live for more than 10 years in the absence of the cancer.
Radiation therapy for prostate cancer is in fact odd for a patient expected to live to see the side effects. Standard treatment is nothing for a small tumor, surgery for an advanced tumor when the patient has 10+ years of life expectancy, radiation for an advanced tumor when the patient has short life expectancy.
In fact you are a bit wrong. Surgery and radiation are routinely considered as options for treating the same type of tumor. It is more common to do surgery in younger patients but it is incorrect to say radiation is “not recommended” in these cases. And 67 is not young.
Source: UCSF Prostate Cancer team (#4 ranked by US News & World report)
