Cancer of Prostate

Once diagnosed to have cancer of the prostate, a patient has several prostate cancer treatments at his disposal. The option taken really depends on several factors like the size of the tumor, how far the tumor has spread, your age and life expectancy. For some men a combination of treatments may be applied.
Watchful Waiting
In this, basically no treatment is given until the tumor gets bigger. This is a good choice for older men diagnosed with prostate cancer but likely to die from some other cause. It is also a good option if you are a younger man and your cancer is not causing any symptoms, is expected to grow slowly and is still relatively small. Through appropriate medical tests done regularly to monitor the progress of the cancer growth, this method can be all that is required for many cases of prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Surgery

The technical term for this is radical prostatectomy which involves the removal of the entire prostate and surrounding lymph nodes. As long as the tumor has not spread outside the gland this is the most certain prostate cancer treatment as all of the cancer is removed.

Prostate Radiation Therapy
There are two types of radiation therapy. One is external beam radiation where treatment is given from a machine. The other is the ’seed’ therapy where radioactive pellets are injected into the prostate gland. These basically work the same. Machine therapy is given five days a week over a seven week period. Though time-consuming, it is a simple procedure done without the need for anesthesia, and with less side- effects than the seed therapy. The seed therapy is done under anesthesia by putting high doses of radiation on the cancer for a few minutes. It is done on just one hospital visit so there is no period of hospitalization. 10 years after treatment the cure rate for radiation is just the same as that of radical prostatectomy.

Hormone Therapy
Male hormone testosterone produced in the testicles enhances the growth of the prostate tumor. As a form of treatment, the prostate cancer hormone  radiation therapy lowers the  level of production of these hormones thus checking the growth of the tumour. This can either involve the giving of shots monthly, or the surgical removal of the testicles. With the removal of the testosterone, the cancer will shrink. This is good treatment where the cancer has spread beyond the gland. In some cases hormone therapy can be used in combination with radiation therapy or surgery

Chemotherapy
This prostate cancer treatment is used to destroy fast growing cancer cells. It involves the use of chemicals, and whereas it  highly successful in the prostate cancer treatments, it does not cure it.

Cryotherapy
This method involves the freezing of the cancer cells. It is true however that more time is required to determine how successful cryotherapy is as a treatment for prostate caner.

So it is, highly effective prostate cancer treatments are readily available. Just see your doctor for proper diagnosis and for help in making the right choices for you. Remember prostate cancer is both curable and/or manageable with the right treatment.Though potentially terminal, there is no need to die from prostate cancer.