Prostate cancer treatment options

4 clearly explained prostate cancer options to understand Darla’s cancer story better.

 

Since prostate cancer treatment options are getting more, the survival rate for prostate cancer also improves. This is true for prostate cancer treatments in all stages except a metastasised prostate cancer.

 

Advanced prostate cancer treatments however have no high survival rate outcome, which is sad if you have metastatic liver cancer with prostate cancer as your primary.

 

Spread is bad

 

Darla’s father however was diagnosed for primary prostate cancer in early Feb. 2008. He underwent radiation treatment for prostate cancer and except for suffering side-effects, Darla’s father is now cancer free.

 

Which only shows that you don’t want to hear that the cancer has spread or metastasised.

 

Please share all your experience and information on prostate cancer at prostate cancer symptoms. Please Darla, share your uncle’s "complete" prostate cancer story so others that will go the same path can learn from you.

 

Prostate cancer radiation treatment options

 

We add this information because it is specific for prostate cancer and helps understanding Darla’s cancer story.

 

Option 1: No prostate cancer treatment

 

An 80-year old man has the option not to treat his prostate cancer and live "happily ever after".

 

Since prostate cancer is slow-growing, especially in older men, the costs and side-effects of treating prostate cancer could be much higher than living with the cancer.

 

In this case you can hear doctors say: "he won’t die because of cancer" although he has cancer.

 

‘Quality of life’ in this case means real ‘quality’ in stead of a concept you need to try and fill in yourself.

 

Option 2: Hormone treatment prostate cancer

 

The only prostate cancer chemotherapy treatment available is a prostate cancer hormone therapy that stops testosterone production.

 

 

These oral medicines are the so called anti-androgen drugs that will block the action of testosterone on the prostate gland like:

 

• Bicalutamide (marketed as Casodex ®, Cosudex ®, Calutide ®, Kalumid ®)
   
• Flutamide (marketed as Eulexin ®, Cytomid ®)
   
• Nilutamide (marketed as Nilandron ®)

 

Young men "high on testosterone" won’t be eager to opt for this solution.

 

Option 3: Radiation treatment for prostate cancer

 

There are 2 radiation treatments for prostate cancer : internal and external.

 

• Internal radiation therapy (brachytherapy) with radiation seeds or pellets as Darla calls them.
  In this one-time prostate cancer treatment pellets of radioactive material are implanted directly into the cancerous tissue.

  These seeds will kill the cancerous cells in the immediate vicinity as well as normal body cells.

  Side-effects include urinary leakage and/or penile dysfunction.

  Brachytherapy is very expensive so your doctor will only recommend this treatment when your cancer hasn’t spread yet…

   

• External radiation therapy is the older form of radiation treatment.
  
  You will have to go several times to hospital to undergo radiation therapy.

  Since the radiation beams penetrate through your skin, muscle and fat before reaching the cancerous tissue of the prostate, more normal body cells will be damaged compared to brachytherapy.

 

Darla’s uncle opted for the brachytherapy prostate cancer treatment where the pellets inside his body gave off radiation for the next 2 weeks after implant.

 

Darla’s aunt has stage 4 liver cancer

 

Read Darla’s family’s cancer story:

 

My uncle had prostate cancer in Feb 08 this year.

 

He went to a doctor that performed radiation therapy with some form of pellets. They were placed inside him accordingly to the size of the tumors size which was about 120 pellets.

 

After the insertions, they gave off radiation for 2 weeks.

 

Yes it was painful. He urinated a lot and got two infections that required antibiotics.

 

Then the next visit he was cancer free.

 

I hope and wish the best for all who are going through any of this. God bless you all!

 

My aunt on the other hand has stage four liver cancer.

 

I am praying for the best for her and all others going through this.

 

Darla left her comment at Metastatic liver cancer facts : secondary liver cancer