Prostate Cancer Treatments 1
There isn’t one specific treatment for prostate cancer. Each man should learn all he can about the various treatment plans available, and discuss the choices with his health care professional. You and your physician can make the best choice for your case.
If you are like most men, your decision will be made after a close look at psychological and clinical factors as they apply to you. If you are diagnosed with the milder localized prostate cancer right now, you will most likely live for many more years, so your decision will affect a long term ahead of you. You will need to carefully consider the options available to you, before you and your physician decide on the best course of treatment.
You should consult with all three types of specialists that may treat you – a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist and a urologist. Together, they will be able to give you an assessment of the best treatments available and their probable outcomes.
One of the treatments, or, rather, a non-treatment, is active surveillance. In this plan, you wait and watch closely. This is a viable option if you have localized prostate cancer. If you don’t wish to undergo radiation therapy or immediate surgery, the cancer can be monitored carefully to make sure it doesn’t progress to a more serious grade. You will be tested every six months and biopsied every year, and if symptoms develop or your tests tell the physician that your cancer is growing, you may need treatment then.
Prostatectomy is prostate surgery which involves removing part or all of the prostate. If your cancer is confined to your prostate gland, you may undergo a radical prostatectomy, which removes the entire prostate and some tissue from surrounding areas.
In a radical retropubic prostatectomy, the prostate is removed from an incision behind the pubic bone. Following this procedure, the surgeon will stitch the urethra to the bladder, to allow for urine flow.
Another surgical method of treatment is a radical perineal prostatectomy. It is not performed as often right now. In this surgery, the incision is made in the perineum, and the prostate is removed from behind that area.
Roughly a third of men who are treated for early-stage prostate cancer will have relapses after five years or so. For men in this class and for those diagnosed with later-stage cancer, procedures other than the radical prostatectomy may be a good method to manage the cancer.
Men who have undergone radiation therapy can benefit from a “salvage” prostatectomy, where the irradiated prostate and some of the surrounding tissue is removed. Post-radiation surgery is difficult to perform, so it it not done widely.
Another surgical treatment, transurethral prostatectomy, is usually performed in men who have an enlarged prostate that is not caused by cancer. This is also known as BPH, which is benign prostatic hypertrophy. A version of this procedure is also helpful when performed on men who have recurrent prostate cancer, which can relieve urinary symptoms brought about by prostate cancer’s growth.
