Prostate Cancer Sufferers May Soon Be Able To Take A Short Chemo Break

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
Comment this article

Where prostate cancer moves out of the prostate and reached into other parts of the body it is said to be advanced prostate cancer and treatment becomes much more difficult than when cancer is limited to the prostate.

Where your cancer has not spread too widely and is not particularly aggressive it is still possible not just to treat the condition but in fact to cure it. In many cases however where cancer is widespread, or is particularly aggressive, treatment becomes a matter of simply holding back the progression of the disease and providing you with the best quality of life possible.

Currently one of the main treatments for advanced prostate cancer is intravenous chemotherapy frequently using a drug known as docetaxal. Docetaxal is a very effective drug for a lot of patients and it does indeed hold back the progression of prostate cancer and extend life for many patients. Nevertheless, it is not without its side effects that include such things as nausea, hair loss, loss of appetite and an increased risk of infection. Consequently it is here that we encounter one of the biggest problems in advanced prostate ...
... cancer treatment.

If you are treating a condition that cannot be cured and that will eventually kill you, then lengthening your life by slowing down the progress of the disease is fine provided that treatment gives you an acceptable quality of life and does not end up being worse than the disease itself.

For a significant number of prostate cancer sufferers, who are frequently in their 60s or older, chemotherapy is not exactly pleasant but it is a price worth paying to buy them some time when they first begin their treatment. However, as the treatment progresses and the side effects begin to build the picture frequently changes and a lot of patients begin to ask whether or not it is worth it. Naturally this is never a simple question to answer and has to be the subject of a very personal discussion between the patient, his family and his physician.

Most of us will be familiar with this scenario either through our own experience of illness or through our experience of seeing family members of close friends in this situation and know well just how difficult a time it can be.

There may however be a bit of light at the end of this tunnel because studies involving a group of patients with metastatic prostate cancer suggest that a lot of patients may be able to take a 'chemotherapy holiday' without any significant detriment to their treatment. Put another way, after a number of weeks of chemotherapy, and when the side effects are beginning to get you down, you may be able to simply stop your chemotherapy for a time and let your body recover a bit before going on with your treatment.

It is of course early days yet and no-one is quite certain yet precisely how long your 'chemotherapy holidays' could be or how frequently you can take them, but for a lot of advanced prostate cancer sufferers this seemingly minor advance in treatment could make a world of difference.