Medical Treatments for Prostate Cancer

There are many different medical treatments for prostate cancer that involve the clinical care of a healthcare professional. These treatments include expectant therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy. Expectant therapy is to carefully observe and monitor the prostate cancer. Because prostate cancer cells often spread very slowly, many older men who have the disease may not need more extensive treatment. However, expectant therapy usually includes routine physician examinations, including digital rectal exams and PSA tests. The different types of surgery for prostate cancer are radical prostatectomy - an open-surgery procedure in which the entire prostate gland and surrounding tissue are removed. Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) - surgery to remove part of the prostate gland that surrounds the urethra. Cryosurgery - this procedure involves killing the cancer cells by freezing them with a small metal tool placed in the tumor. Side effects of prostate cancer surgery include incontinence and impotence. Incontinence is the inability to control urine and may result in dribbling of urine, especially immediately after surgery. Normal control usually returns within weeks or months after surgery. Impotence is the inability to achieve an erection. For a month, or so, after surgery, most men are not able to get an erection. Eventually, approximately 40 to 60 percent of men will be able to get an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse, but without ejaculation of semen, since removal of the prostate gland prevents that process.

Radiation therapy uses high energy rays to kill or shrink cancer cells, and to decrease their ability to divide. Radiation is often used to treat prostate cancer that is still confined to the prostate gland, or has spread only to nearby tissue. If the disease is advanced, radiation may be used to reduce the size of the tumor and to provide relief from symptoms. Possible side effects of radiation for prostate cancer may include diarrhea, with or without blood in the stool, and colitis, problems associated with urination, a degree of impotence (inability to get an erection), which may occur within two years of radiation therapy.

The goal of hormone therapy is to lower the level of male hormones in the body, particularly testosterone. Hormone therapy does not cure the cancer, and is often used to treat persons whose cancer has spread or recurred after treatment. Produced mainly in the testicles, testosterone causes prostate cancer cells to grow. Thus, reduced testosterone levels can make the prostate cancer shrink and become less active. Most studies show that hormone therapy works better if it is started early. Chemotherapy is the use of powerful, anti-cancer medications to kill cancer cells.. Hospitalization may be needed to monitor treatment and chemotherapy's side effects. Common side effects of chemotherapy include: nausea and vomiting, hair loss, anemia, reduced ability of blood to clot, mouth sores, increased likelihood of developing infections, fatigue. Most side effects disappear once treatment is stopped.

prostate cancer death
Recent Trends in Mortality Rates for Four Major Cancers, by Sex
Death rates for prostate cancer were more than twice as high for blacks than for whites (Table 1). Rates were lowest among APIs. Death rates decreased for

Prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates and trends in the
Cancer surveillance series: interpreting trends in prostate cancer--part II: Cause of death misclassification and the recent rise and fall in prostate

The Political Graveyard: Politicians Who Died of Prostate Cancer
The official URL for this page is: ; Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome

Combo Therapy Cuts Prostate Cancer Death Rates
Latest News and Information On Prostate Problems. Symptoms, risks, treatments and other information on Prostate Problems.

Obesity may up prostate cancer death - UPI.com
The study, published in the journal Cancer, found that after five years the prostate cancer mortality rate for men with a normal BMI was less than 7 percent

Obesity boosts prostate cancer mortality | Health | Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer are more than twice as likely to die of the disease than their leaner peers,

Prostate Cancer Resources and Information | OncoLink
We know that prostate cancer usually grows very slowly, so intuitively it would make sense that we could reduce mortality from prostate cancer by picking it

Combo Therapy Cuts Prostate Cancer Death Rates
Study supports hormone therapy with radiation, finding no raised risk to heart.

Trends in prostate cancer incidence and mortality: an analysis of
Background: The rate of death from prostate cancer has recently declined in many areas of the world. Over the past 15 years prostate-specific antigen (PSA)

Prostate Cancer Screening: More Harm Than Good? - August 1998
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States.5 In addition, significant morbidity is associated with end-stage

MedlinePlus: Combo Therapy Cuts Prostate Cancer Death Rates
3 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that a common but controversial treatment for prostate cancer reduces long-term death rates without greatly

eMedicine - Prostate Cancer: Metastatic and Advanced Disease
Background: Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States in men dying from cancer and is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in

NIH Press Release -Recent Trends in Prostate Cancer Incidence - 11
The prostate cancer death rate for white men began dropping in 1992 and for black men in 1994. The rate declined 6.3 percent overall from 1991 to 1995.

Prostate Cancer - urologychannel
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, exceeded only by lung cancer. Prostate cancer occurs in 1 out of 6 men.

Predicting Prostate Cancer Death
A blood test widely used to screen for prostate cancer can identify which patients are more likely to die from it -- and do so more than a decade before

Rise in PSA Level May Predict Cancer Death
For men whose PSA velocity was 2.0 nanograms per milliliter per year or higher, the risk of death from prostate cancer was nearly 10 times higher compared

Prostate Cancer Home Page - National Cancer Institute
This booklet describes the treatment choices available to men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. NIH Publication #05-4659.

Cancer Research UK : UK Prostate Cancer mortality statistics
The latest UK prostate cancer mortality statistics from the Statistics team at Cancer Research UK.

Deaths from Prostate Cancer - WrongDiagnosis.com
Deaths information for Prostate Cancer: The second leading cause of cancer death in American men, prostate cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 184500


prostate cancer death
lateral lobes of prostate
male prostate milking
prostate cancer gleason score treatment
lower back pain prostate