Prostate Cancer Treatments - What Else is There?

The usual target of prostate cancer is men aged 80 and above.

It is a fairly common problem that starts becoming frequent in 50 or older males.

While prostate cancer is decidedly lethal, it is rarely the cause of death for most men who have the disease. Despite being a common disorder, medical experts are still not sure exactly what causes prostate cancer.

A man's ethnicity offers one point of differentiation, with Asian males having the lowest risk and African-Americans the highest.

Prostate cancer can be cured but it has to be detected during its early stages to enable successful treatment. This proves difficult because males rarely seek medical attention once the symptoms present themselves.

The signs of prostate cancer are extremely similar to those of another prostate disorder – Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy or BPH. The symptoms associated with prostate cancer include irregular urine flow and frequent urges to urinate. Some men also experience droplets of urine before and after urinating.

Prostate Cancer Treatment Alternatives

There is no one prostate cancer treatment that will work for everyone. Physicians need to determine several factors first prior to deciding on a course of prostate cancer treatment – tumor size and location, overall condition of health and age.

Surgery or radial prostatectomy is the number one option for prostate cancer treatment. The operation is physically exhausting to the body so patients need to be in good condition prior to surgery.

Candidates for surgery include men between 50 and 70 years old whose cancer damage is not yet widespread. Some side effects of the procedure are minor problems urinating and those concerning erectile dysfunction.

But recent developments in surgery have greatly minimized these side effects. Overall success rate of prostate cancer surgery is high.

Another option is hormone therapy.

Such prostate cancer treatment does not get rid of the cancer cells. It simply makes the prostate tumor smaller. Most doctors recommend a combination of surgery and hormone treatment for best results.

Testosterone, the male sex hormone, stimulates cancer cell growth. Hormone therapies reduce the testosterone hormone's level in the body. By lowering testosterone levels, the prostate is less vulnerable to prostate cancer cell growth.

A person's medical history and overall health condition are used by doctors as bases for whether or not to prescribe hormone therapy.

Doctors occasionally suggest an alternative prostate cancer treatment to surgery. Destroying cancer cells via radiotherapy or radiation is one option.

This method is not painful and involves procedures that are not that invasive. However, some downsides of the procedure that have been observed are impotence and diarrhea.

Another method is Brachytherapy or the insertion of radioactive elements in the prostate. Patients are placed under anesthesia while undergoing the procedure. The radioactive elements lose their properties over time but they do help restrict further growth of cancer cells.