Most Reliable Prostate Cancer Therapy

By Author: Jerold Curtis
Total Articles: 16
Comment this article

Of the prostate cancer treatments available, your doctor will recommend the treatment option which is best for you. The decision will depend upon your overall health and how far advanced your cancer is. In the event that the treatment recommended for you is not anything you are comfortable with, for example you may not be comfortable with external beam radiation therapy; you may provide your doctor your opinion. It's very important that you are at ease with the decision. Discuss it with your family as well, particularly the possible side effects and cure rate.

Oncologists specialize in specific fields. The one you are referred to will likely be a specialist in the treatment prescribed for you.

Watching and Waiting

The first strategy in most treatment plans is watching and also waiting. The signs and also symptoms that may indicate prostate cancer are also indications of other problems including an infection in or close to your prostate. Watching and waiting is to determine that condition your symptoms are from.

During this period, blood samples will likely be tested for PSA levels and also tissue ...
... samples may be sent for a biopsy.Elevated levels of the prostate specific antigen may point towards a less serious medical problem. This is why a tissue sample could possibly be taken; to verify or to rule out the presence of cancer. Remember that early treatment usually has a far better possibility of cure.

Surgery

Men who are the best candidates for prostate cancer surgery are definitely the ones most likely to achieve a successful recovery from the procedure. These are men with great overall health and who do not have secondary conditions which may interfere with recovery like heart problems. Surgery can lead to a few serious side effects including incontinence and also impotence.

Radiation

There are 3 different types of radiation therapies. External beam therapy is typically a stream of X-rays aimed towards your pelvis from a device outside the body. The X-rays burn away cancer cells through repeated treatments over several weeks.

An alternative external beam therapy is Proton Beam Therapy. Instead of using X-rays, protons, that are charged particles or ions, are streamed at your pelvis, again from a device outside your body.

Brachytherapy is the introduction of several radioactive seeds directly into your prostate. They're implanted with a series of injections while you're under a general anesthetic.

All of the radiation treatments above work on the principle of burning cancer cells away with high energy particles. Radiation treatment may take place over time, and also is subject to the same side effects as surgery.

Hormone Therapies

Hormone therapy is a method of chemical treatment that seeks to alter your hormone levels to halt or slow the growth of cancer cells. This procedure is temporary due to the fact most patients develop a resistance to the effectiveness of the injections after about 2 years.

Hormone therapy is not a cure and is generally recommended when the patient has a higher stage (T-3 or T-4) of prostate cancer. The idea is to prolong the patient's life and also slow the cancer's growth.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy is a procedure where, during surgery, your prostate is frozen and then thawed to destroy cancer cells.

HIFU

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound uses focused ultrasound to heat and also evaporate diseased tissue out of your prostate. The device is aimed applying an MRI scan and also targeted tissue is heated to 80??C. The result is tissue that can no longer reproduce and so cannot grow any further. Healthy tissue is spared simply because the effective area of the ultrasound pulse is incredibly small and also only just a few cubic mm at the moment may be targeted. It is done on an out-patient basis and also does not affect the quality of life that a few of the other treatments do. HIFU also leads to fewer significant side effects than surgery or radiation. HIFU for prostate cancer is very effective and also can frequent be used for recurrent cancer. It is not an option, even so , once the cancer has spread beyond the prostate.

You can find out more information about prostate cancer at Prostate Cancer Awareness and Prostate Cancer Diagnosis.