The many available prostate cancer treatment options may confuse you. However, your doctor will probably give you a lot of information about what he or she thinks is the best treatment for you.
If you have questions, write them down so you can ask them the next time you see your doctor. Of course, it is very important that you trust your doctor to help you decide what is the best treatment in your case. Or you may want to get a second opinion before you decide.
Prostate Cancer Treatment Options
Prostate cancer means that some cells in the prostate are growing uncontrollably. One of the big dangers of this form of cancer is that it may spread to the bones. There are a number of prostate cancer treatment options to fight this dangerous illness. Before the doctor decides on the best treatment method, he or she will think about things like age and health of the patient and if the cancer has spread.
Watchful waiting
Watchful waiting is another prostate cancer treatment option for older men. In watchful waiting, the doctor will not start any sort of treatment until the cancer gets worse. This may be the best way to go if you are an elder gentlemen and if an operation would be a problem.
Prostate cancer surgery
Radical prostatectomy refers to a form of prostate cancer surgery in which the surgeon removes the whole prostate gland along with its lymph nodes. After removing the prostate gland, a rubber tube is placed into the bladder to pass urine out of the body.
There are other surgeries, like laparoscopic surgery, which are not as risky as this one. However, any kind of surgery comes with certain risks. So make sure to look at the pros and cons of all available prostate cancer treatment options, as well as their possible side effects. See at least a couple of experienced doctors before making up your mind.
HIFU: High Intensity Focused Ultrasound
High Intensity Focused Ultrasound therapy is still quite new. It uses sound waves to destroy the cancer cells within the prostate gland.
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer
There are many kinds of hormone therapy as a treatment option for prostate cancer. This kind of therapy takes the level of androgen hormones down or stops them completely. Androgen hormones are the male hormones. One of them is testosterone. Androgens make the cancer cells in the prostrate grow further. By bringing the hormone level down, the cancer may stop growing or even become less. Hormone therapy alone cannot make the prostate cancer go away, but it can help other therapies succeed.
Radiation therapy prostate cancer treatment
If the tumor is inside the prostate gland, then doctors may opt for radiation therapy and use x-rays to kill the cancer cells. There are two different kinds of radiation therapy – external and internal. In external therapy, the radiation comes from a machine. In case of internal therapy radioactive the doctor will inject radioactive seeds into the patient’s prostate gland. This kind of therapy is also known as brachytherapy or seed therapy.
There may be some side effects resulting from radiation therapy like extreme tiredness, diarrhea, bladder problems etc. Radiation therapy may cause impotence in men. The cancer can also recur many years after undergoing radiation therapy.
Natural Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Surgery may not be an option for you and HIFU is not yet available in all countries. If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer and wish to go for a natural treatment of prostate cancer, make sure you consult with your doctor first before deciding what treatment is best for you.