Prostate Cancer - Treatment

The treatment for prostate cancer will depend on a number of factors such as your age and whether the cancer has spread and if so, how far. There are a number of treatments which are described below. Some can have serious side-effects so it is important to discuss them in more detail with your doctor who will advise you which treatment is best for you.

Active monitoring

Sometimes, particularly for slow-growing tumours, no treatment is the best course of action. This is often called active monitoring or watchful waiting. Your condition will be monitored closely with routine check-ups. You can start treatment at any time and will be advised to do so if tests show the cancer is growing.

Surgery

Taking out the prostate is still considered by many to be the mainstay of treatment for cancers confined to the prostate. It’s highly effective, but will probably not suffice on its own if the cancer has spread. This has to be weighed against the fact that the after effects of this operation can be server. Additional surgical options include removal of one or both testicles to stop the production of testosterone, which feed the cancer.

Radiotherapy

 This is usually used to treat prostate cancer that’s still contained within the gland. Side effects can be quite severe and include impotence, diarrhoea, vomiting and pain when passing urine. A new version of this treatment restricts radiation to the exact shape of the tumour, and this is expected to cut down on unpleasant side effects.

Radioactive Seed Therapy

A relatively new treatment involves placing time-release radioactive seeds in specific areas of the prostate. It’s just starting to be available at more and more centres in the UK. It’s popular too: up to 90 percent of radioactive seed recipients remain sexually active after treatment. For less aggressive prostate cancers, there’s good evidence that seeds may be as effective as more radical surgery. Men with advanced cancers, however, would not be helped by this treatment.

Hormonal Treatment

Prostate cancer needs the male hormone testosterone, so it’s logical to use hormonal treatments to lower it’s level in the body, especially for advanced prostate cancers. Hormone treatments are often used in combination with other treatments, such as radiotherapy or surgery. Sexual function suffers substantially during treatment but impotence will probably disappear once therapy is complete. Removal of the testicles would fall into the category of hormonal treatments.

Treatments still in research

Medical advances are being made all the time in the field of prostate cancer and if a man is willing, he may wish to enrol in clinical trials for treatments not yet approved for general use. These would include vaccines aimed at inducing the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer, and techniques to shrink tumours by choking their blood supply. If someone feels inclined to go this route he should talk to his surgeon about it.