Prostate Cancer Therapy

For patients that have just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, choosing the right prostate cancer therapy could be a frightening task due to the high level of risk involved in case of making the wrong choice. However, an expert team of doctors and specialists would be able to offer expert advice on the various therapies available even as advances in science lessen the risk and improve the prospects of recovery with each passing day.

Prostate cancer can be classified in 3 stages.

• Organ confined. In this stage, the cancer is confined to the prostate gland only.
• Locally advanced. In this stage, the cancer would have spread to surrounding local organs.
• Metastatic. In this advanced stage, the cancer might have spread to other organs in the body, as far away as the lungs or liver and is very difficult to treat.

Doctors will need to first access the stage of the prostate cancer before determining on the right prostate cancer therapy to combat the advance of the cancer cells. Some of the therapies used to fight prostate cancer are:

Surgery

If the cancer is organ confined or locally advanced then doctors might usually opt for surgery to remove the affected organs or lymph nodes to stop the cancer from spreading to other organs. Doctors will probably use other therapies such as radiation, hormonal therapy or chemotherapy after surgery to be on the safe side and remove any hidden cancer cells.

Hormonal therapy

Hormones in a human body that could trigger the growth of cancerous cells are targeted in this therapy. This prostate cancer therapy involves medications that suppress the growth of hormones that aggravate the situation and is also used in conjunction with other therapies for better effect.

Radiation

Radiation can be administered in the form of Brachytherapy where radioactive pills or rods are surgically placed inside the body or on the affected organ. On the other hand, external beam radiation is also used on the affected organ to kill the cancer cells by destroying their DNA. Radiation is often used after surgery to mop up cancer cells that might have escaped the surgeon’s knife.

Chemotherapy

If the cancer has managed to reach an advanced stage then the prostate cancer therapy would need to include chemotherapy to ease the pain and kill cancerous cells. Chemotherapy usually uses a combination of drugs to destroy cancer cells and also ends up damaging healthy cells too. But if doctors feel that the results could help save the patient’s life then this therapy is used.

Cryotherapy

This form of prostate cancer therapy involves freezing the cancer cells to death. By using chemicals such as liquid nitrogen, the targeted cells are subjected to a low temperature attack that results in their death. This therapy is not widely practiced but is slowly gaining ground as a safe way of treating patients.

Alternative therapies too are fast gaining ground as the medical world opens up to new ideas but lack of long-term testing has slowed them from turning into mainstream treatments. The right prostate cancer therapy will help doctors to eliminate prostate cancer quickly and safely while allowing the patient to enjoy a long and healthy cancer-free life in future, although regular checkups will be required for life.