Prostate-Cancer.com Find physicians in your own area for prostate cancer treatment.
Title
Prostate Cancer Treatment Guide
Description
Excerpted from the website description:
- The Prostate Cancer Treatment Guide is a comprehensive source of prostate cancer information that is written plainly and organized conveniently into a chart. The simple layout of this guide will ease the daunting task of learning about treatments after receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis. The guide is not a substitution for a doctor, but its complete and easy-to-understand information will prepare readers for the journey ahead.
Coping with Prostate Cancer
By the time you read these words, you may have already been diagnosed with prostate cancer, or someone that you love may have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. The bad news is the 1 in 6 chance that American men have in developing prostate cancer. The good news is that the annual 200,000 diagnoses come from finding prostate cancer earlier. As in all other cancers, the sooner prostate cancer is caught, the higher the chances for a cure that will minimize side effects. The journey through prostate cancer is not one that any man can embark on alone. He will have the help of not only his primary physician but of oncologists, pathologists, nurses, other patients, and his loved ones. The support of his loved ones may be the most important help a patient can receive. If you are a patient, do not be afraid to reach out to your spouse, your family, and your friends during this emotionally draining journey. If you are a spouse, a family member, or a friend to a man who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, do not hesitate to offer your support and love to him.
Assessing the Risk for Prostate Cancer
There is no specific prostate cancer cause, however, researchers have identified several risk factors that seem to accompany the development of the disease. Knowing prostate cancer risk factors can help certain men schedule the appropriate testing at an earlier age and catch the disease, if it develops, in an earlier stage.
These risk factors are associated with prostate cancer, but the presence of some, or even all risk factors, does not warrant the eventual development of the disease. The Prostate Cancer Treatment Guide is not intended as a substitute for a consultation with a primary care physician; PCTG is meant to increase awareness of the value of early testing for certain men.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is a radiation therapy that can be used as a prostate cancer treatment. Sometimes referred to as interstitial radiation therapy, seed therapy, or seed treatment, prostate brachytherapy is capable of delivering high and concentrated doses of radiation to the prostate gland.
Cryotherapy Treatment
Cryotherapy is a relatively new prostate cancer treatment. Also referred to as cryosurgery and cryoablation, prostate cryotherapy is a minimally invasive surgery capable of using controlled freeze and thaw cycles to destroy the disease.
Chemotherapy Treatment
Prostate cancer chemotherapy is usually used as salvage treatment during hormone refractory prostate cancer or for advanced prostate cancer with distant metastasis and has shown success in extending the life and qualities of life in many patients.
Prostate Cancer Hormone Therapy
Prostate cancer hormone therapy is the systemic ablation of the body’s testosterone which, for a period of time, will slow or stop the growth and spread of prostate cancer. Hormone therapy may also be called androgen deprivation or androgen ablation.
External Radiation Treatment
There are two types of radiation treatment available to prostate cancer patients: external and brachytherapy. External therapy has been in medically-effective practice for longer than brachytherapy. This treatment is often referred to as radiotherapy. EBRT has been so commonly used that EBRT and radiation therapy are sometimes used interchangeably.
Prostate Surgery and Prostatectomy
Prostate surgery or prostatectomy is the removal of the prostate gland. This prostate cancer treatment is an invasive procedure that can be performed by a single incision to the lower abdomen (retropubic) or perineum (perineal), or by a series of small incisions (laparoscopic and robotic).
Robot Assisted Prostatectomy
Robotic surgery for prostate cancer is the latest advancement in minimally invasive technology that deploys the use of robotic instrumentation and 3D imagery of the operating site when removing a cancerous prostate gland through a series of small incisions. In general, robotic prostatectomy surgery yields a shorter recovery period for the patient, and thus a quicker return to everyday activities when compared to traditional open surgical procedures.
Watchful Waiting
Watchful waiting is not a euphemism for doing nothing, but rather it is the decision to delay treatment in favor of careful monitoring for the progression of prostate cancer. Watchful waiting may also be referred to as expectant management, conservative management, observation, or surveillance.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term used to describe non-orthodox methods of treatment used in conjunction with or as an alternative to conventional medicine. Complementary and alternative therapies are applied to relieve the symptoms of prostate cancer as well as to combat the negative effects of standard prostate cancer care. Though lacking concrete scientific evidence, prostate cancer alternative treatments, like diet and nutritional supplements, are deployed by some as the sole means of obtaining a prostate cancer cure.
