Prostate cancer treatment is complex. Doctors and patients much choose among prostatectomy, radiotherapy, watchful waiting, hormone therapy and other treatments. Prostate Cancer Treatments cover a wide range of approaches that impact life expectancy differently.
Survival and Lie Expectancy in Localized Prostate Cancer
83% for prostatectomy
72% for watchful waiting
What are some of the Treatment options for prostate cancer?
The Treatment options for prostate cancer depend in part on whether the tumor has spread. For tumors that are still inside the prostate, radiation therapy (using x-rays that kill the cancer cells) and a surgery called radical prostatectomy are common treatment options. "Watchful waiting" is also a treatment option. In this approach, no treatment is given until the tumor gets bigger. Generally, tumors that have grown beyond the edge of the prostate can't be cured with either radiation or surgery.
Radical prostatectomy is a surgery to remove the whole prostate gland and the nearby lymph nodes.
If you're in good health, the short-term risks of this surgery are low. The main advantage of surgery is that it offers the most certain treatment. That is, if all of the cancer is removed during surgery, you are probably cured. Surgery does have risks and complications.
What is radiation therapy?
There are 2 types of radiation therapy. In another type, radioactive pellets (called "seeds") are injected into the prostate gland. Both types work about the same in curing prostate cancer.
In seed therapy, higher doses of radiation can be put right on the cancer. You may feel more discomfort after this treatment.
About 15% to 30% of men who have radiation therapy have urinary burning, urinary bleeding, frequent urination, rectal bleeding, rectal discomfort or diarrhea during or shortly after the treatment. The cancer could come back many years after radiation treatment.
At 10 years after treatment, cure rates are about the same for radiation therapy and radical prostatectomy. There are no surgical risks for men who have radiation therapy.
Many prostate cancers are small and grow slowly. Because many men with a slow-growing tumor have the same life expectancy as men who don't even have prostate cancer, it may not be necessary to treat very small, very slow-growing prostate tumors. Also, some men feel that the side effects of treatment outweigh the benefits. In watchful waiting, you get no treatment, but you see your doctor often. If there's no sign the cancer is growing, you continue to get no treatment. Hormone therapy can be started if the cancer starts to grow.
What is the purpose of hormone therapy?
Hormone treatments are most often used in patients with cancer that has already spread beyond the prostate gland.
While prostate cancer usually responds to 1 or 2 years of hormone therapy, after some time most tumors start to grow again. No treatment can cure prostate cancer after hormone therapy stops helping.
Where can I get more information about prostate cancer?
Your family doctor, your oncologist (cancer doctor), the radiotherapist and your urologist can give you information. Your local hospital or cancer center may refer you to a local prostate cancer support group, where you can meet other men who have had this cancer.
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