There are many treatments for prostate cancer. Your healthcare provider will talk with you about the best ones for you. These will be based on things like your age, overall health, and the stage of the cancer. Your healthcare provider will also tell you what to expect from a treatment, such as side effects and risks.
Prostate Cancer Treatment: Your OptionsThere are many treatments for prostate cancer. Your healthcare provider will talk with you about the best ones for you. These will be based on things like your age, overall health, and the stage of the cancer. Your healthcare provider will also tell you what to expect from a treatment, such as side effects and risks.Keep in mind: Not all prostate cancers need to be treated. That’s often the case for those that are found early and are slow growing. If you have such a cancer, you may opt for active surveillance or watchful waiting. Active surveillance means you delay treatment until the cancer starts to grow or cause problems. This delay prevents treatment side effects like incontinence and erection problems. Instead, you will have regular tests to keep track of the cancer. You may have biopsies and prostate-specific antigen, or P-S-A, blood tests.Watchful waiting, also called observation, is like active surveillance. But you won't have as many tests. If you start to have symptoms, your healthcare provider will talk with you about ways to treat them. Treatment is most often used to control the symptoms, not to cure the cancer.If your healthcare provider advises treating the prostate cancer right away, you may have one or more of these treatments.Radiation therapyRadiation therapy uses high-energy beams to kill cancer cells. This treatment can be done in different ways. It may be done with a large machine that focuses the beams on the tumor. This kind is called external-beam radiation therapy, or E-B-R-T.The radiation source can also be put right into your prostate. This kind is called internal radiation therapy, or brachytherapy. The most common type puts a lot of small radioactive seeds in the prostate. The seeds give off a steady dose of radiation into nearby tissue. Over time, the radioactive material is used up. And the seeds are left in place.SurgeryIf the cancer is only in your prostate, your provider may advise surgery to take out the whole prostate gland. This is called a radical prostatectomy. During it, your surgeon may also take out nearby tissue and lymph nodes to check for cancer. This surgery can be done through a large cut made in your lower belly. Or it may be done through a cut in your perineum, the area between your scrotum and anus.It can also be done through several small cuts using a laparoscope. This is a thin tube with a light and camera on the end of it. It helps the surgeon see inside your body. The surgeon puts the laparoscope and other long, thin tools into the small cuts to do the surgery.Laparoscopic prostatectomy may also be done with a system of robotic arms that the surgeon controls.Hormone therapyYour body makes male sex hormones called androgens. These hormones can help prostate cancer grow. Hormone therapy, or androgen deprivation therapy, takes away these hormones. This treatment can help control the cancer. It doesn’t cure it.Hormone therapy is most often done with medicines. Some medicines can lower the amount of androgens your body makes. Others can block the action of the hormones.Another type of hormone therapy is a surgery called orchiectomy. During it, your testicles are removed. Your testicles are your body's main source of androgens. When they are taken out, most prostate tumors shrink or stop growing.ChemotherapyChemotherapy may be used when the cancer has spread outside the prostate. These medicines are often put into your bloodstream through an IV. They can slow cancer growth and kill cancer cells throughout the body.Other treatment optionsYour healthcare provider may also advise other treatments. Some of these may be available only through a clinical trial. Others may be used because the cancer has spread to other parts of your body. These treatments may include:immunotherapy to boost your immune system to fight cancer; bisphosphonate medicines for cancer that has reached your bones; targeted therapy, which uses certain medicines to attack cancer cells without harming healthy cells; radiopharmaceutical therapy, which puts a radioactive substance into your blood to kill cancer cells throughout your body; and cryotherapy, which kills cancer cells by freezing them. What we have learnedProstate cancer always needs to be treated right away. True or false? The answer is "false". You may delay treatment with active surveillance or watchful waiting (observation) if the cancer is slow growing and not causing problems.Radiation therapy can be given with tiny radioactive seeds that are put right into the prostate. True or false? The answer is "true". This is called brachytherapy.Radical prostatectomy is used for cancers that are confined to the prostate gland. True or false? The answer is "true". This surgery takes out the prostate and nearby tissues.
Author: Semko, Laura
Online Medical Reviewer: Cunningham, Louise, RN
Online Medical Reviewer: Stump-Sutliff, Kimberly, RN
Date Last Reviewed: 11/01/2020
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