Prostate Cancer Treatments
If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you will want to learn your treatment options, along with the risks and benefits of each
Your physician will look at your biopsy results and your PSA test results to calculate your Gleason Score. Your Gleason score will vary from 2 (least aggressive form that is confined to the prostate gland) to 10 (the most aggressive from with a high risk of spreading to organs outside the prostate gland.) If your score is high (7 or above) additional tests, including bone or computed tomography scans may be needed.
The best treatment option for you will depend on the stage of your prostate cancer; whether the cancer is localized or has spread; your age and health. Traditional cancer treatments, like the ones on this page, are options, but the risk factors must be weighed. There are treatment alternatives to surgery that can be very effective for localized prostate cancer, including High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU).
Surgery
(radical prostatectomy) 
The whole prostate is removed with the seminal vesicles, the deferent canals (which conduct the sperm), part of the bladder neck and the surrounding lymph nodes.
This surgical intervention is invasive and involves the use of general anesthesia for 3 to 4 hours and hospitalization for a number of days.
At the localized stage (stages T-1 or T-2) a radical prostatectomy can be curative but it usually results in impotence and can result in moderate to severe urinary incontinence.
Like any other major surgery it can also have complications and can have a prolonged recovery time.
External Beam RadioTherapy (EBRT)
This treatment involves the use of very high-energy rays directed at the prostate gland using a special machine.
Radiotherapy does not require anesthesia and the treatment is usually done on an outpatient basis.
Patients are usually treated five days per week in a cancer clinic over a period of seven or eight weeks with each session lasting a few minutes.
Complications include marked inflammation of the bladder and/or rectum, as well as impotence as a late complication (6 to 12 months after treatment).
Late side effects can also include soilage of stool because of damage to the rectal sphincter. Recurrent cancer after EBRT is not uncommon and is very difficult to treat.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment where drugs that are toxic to cancerous cells are administered.
Chemotherapy can slow the growth of the tumor and is often used when patients are resistant to hormones.
Chemotherapy can also be used to relieve pain or to control the growth of a tumor when a cure is not possible. It may also be used after surgery to destroy any microscopic cancer cells that remain.
© 2011 | Toronto, Canada
