When diagnosed with prostate cancer, your doctor will work out prostate cancer treatment options for you. It would help if you considered the benefits of each available option and then weighed it against the possible side effects and risks. But, before knowing available treatment options, you should know factors that can influence your prostate cancer treatment decision.
Making the treatment decision
You must sit down with your doctor and understand all the available prostate cancer treatment options. Consider the below-listed factors, and then decide on options that work best for you.
- Grade and stage of cancer
- Expected life span and your current age
- Other severe health disorder
- Probability of treatment curing your cancer
- Your willingness and the doctor’s opinion about treating cancer right away
- Possible side effects associated with the treatment
Prostate cancer treatment options
Immediate cancer treatment not required
When you have low-grade prostate cancer, you may not need immediate treatment. Doctors might opt for active surveillance instead. You will undergo routine blood tests, prostate biopsies, and rectal exams as part of active surveillance. These can help the surgeon understand cancer progression. When your test results depict cancer progressing, you can opt for the below-listed prostate cancer treatment options. However, you can still go with active surveillance when your cancer does not result in any symptoms, is curtailed to a small section, or grows slowly. You can do so even if you are of advanced age or have any other serious health conditions.
Surgery
When cancer has not spread and affected your health, then you can opt for surgery. There are different kinds of surgeries. In some cases, your doctor might only remove the prostate gland, while in others, they may also remove the tissues enveloping it. One of the critical side effects of surgery is you may have trouble controlling urine or holding an erection. A while after surgery, bladder control issues might minimize. However, you must consult your surgeon beforehand to ensure whether they will guard nerves surrounding the prostate to avoid any probable side effects.
Radiation therapy
In this, high-energy beams are employed to combat cancer. There are two kinds of radiation therapies.
- External radiation therapy
In this, a machine from outside the body will direct radiation onto cancer cells.
- Internal radiation therapy
Radioactive pellets or seeds are surgically inserted near or into the affected area to kill benign cells.
Cryotherapy
Also known as cryoablation, here cancer cells in the prostate gland are frozen under controlled conditions. It is done under anesthesia. This is recommended for men who are not suitable candidates for radiotherapy or surgery because of existing health disorders.
Hormone therapy
This treatment option is typically used in combination with radiotherapy. At times, the doctor might recommend hormone therapy before radiotherapy to increase the probability of successful treatment. Sometimes, hormone therapy may be performed after radiotherapy to lower the possibility of relapse. Hormone therapy alone cannot cure prostate cancer, but it can slow down cancer progression and relieve symptoms.
Prostatectomy
In this surgical procedure, the affected prostate gland is removed. Following this, the doctor will conduct robotic radical prostatectomy and laparoscopic prostatectomy via a small abdominal incision. Such procedures are less invasive compared to open radical prostatectomy.
Focal therapy
It is a new treatment option that focuses merely on treating the area affected by prostate cancer. However, this can be a suitable option when cancer has not progressed much. The available options include laser ablation, high-intensity focused ultrasound, photodynamic therapy, and cryotherapy.
Chemotherapy
In chemotherapy, drugs are given orally or injected via the vein to destroy affected cancer cells and small tumors.
