How Many Types of Prostate Cancer Treatment is Available?

The prostate is a walnut-sized male gland that helps create sperm and the fluid for semen. When a tumour is formed or a cell becomes diseased in the prostate gland, it is called prostate cancer. Prostate cancer can be easily treated at an early stage. Discussed below are various prostate cancer treatment options.

Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy

The cancer cells in the prostate gland are killed by ionizing radiation or photons. Every cancer cell has a genetic blueprint called DNA. To kill the cancer cell, radiation therapy helps in destroying the DNA of the cancer cell. After the DNA is damaged, the cancer cell will not be able to replicate or grow themselves and die.

Radiation therapy is as effective as surgery due to its similar rate of cure. It can easily kill prostate cancer cells, which have advanced locally. In this therapy, the technical skills of the radiation oncologist matter a lot just like the surgical skills of a surgeon. One should select a radiation oncologist with great experience and knowledge of radiation therapy.

Prostate Cancer Surgery

Radical Prostatectomy is a surgery wherein the complete prostate gland and surrounding tissues are removed. It is commonly done in prostate cancer patients whose cancer has not spread much.

If the patient is having recurrent or advanced disease, then other surgeries may be performed such as a surgery for removing lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are the first area where cancer starts spreading.

The doctor may perform open radical prostatectomy or laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. In an open radical prostatectomy procedure, the prostate is removed after making an incision in the lower abdomen area.

In a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy procedure, a small incision is made in the abdomen area to insert a robotic arm for performing the surgery. The robotic arms include surgical instruments and cameras to perform the surgery. It is a robotically-assisted surgery that has a shorter recovery period than an open prostatectomy.

Hormonal Therapy

Prostate cancer cells need testosterone to grow further. Hormone therapy is designed in such a way that it helps in stopping testosterone production in the body or blocking them from reaching the prostate cancer cells. 

Hormone therapy is also known as Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT). It is useful in controlling the growth of prostate cancer. But there are also some side effects due to the low level of testosterone. These side effects can be erectile dysfunction, weight gain, mood swings, low bone density & hot flashes.

Chemotherapy for Prostate Cancer

The main purpose of chemotherapy is to stop cancer cells from reaching other areas of the body. This therapy is usually given to the patient before the beginning of the pain. 

The medical oncologist will explain the benefits of chemotherapy and its procedure before the therapy. A chemotherapy medication called docetaxel can help a person to increase life quality and decrease pain.

Active Surveillance

Active surveillance is actively monitoring those patients who do not need to undergo immediate prostate cancer treatment such as radiation or surgery therapy.

Most of the time, there is no need for any immediate surgery or radiation therapy for prostate cancer patients because it grows very slowly. There is no aggressive immediate treatment required because it is a slow-growing tumour.

In many cases, most people don’t require any prostate cancer treatment such as radiation or surgery for as long as 15 years. It is better to wait and watch while the tumour grows because surgery or radiation can change the life quality of a person.

For this purpose, the prostate cancer patient should regularly monitor the progress of the tumour with the help of a Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) and PSA blood test. These tests should be done 1 or 2 times in a year and a biopsy of the prostate gland every 1-5 years.

Precision Medicine

Precision medicine helps to treat the prostate cancer of the patient on the basis of genetic structure. In this treatment method, the patient can be treated at the right time with the right medicine. 

Every tumour is unique because it contains uniquely expressed proteins and mutated genes. Precision diagnosis helps to give the medicine according to the molecular and genetic characteristics of the cancer cell of each patient. 

It allows us to know the weakness of the tumour and formulate medicines. Precision medicine will help to remove all the guesswork and know accurately about the disease.

Also Read:- 5 Major Causes of Prostate Cancer

Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer

Our body has a natural fighting ability against different types of harmful bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. Most of the time, progressing cancer does not allow the anti-cancer immune responses to be turned on or developed in the body. Immunotherapy is a method where the immune system is hacked to make it capable of fighting cancer cells.

In the process of immunotherapy, immune cells are filtered out and stimulated in the lab. Once the immune cells are ready to fight against prostate cancer, it is injected into the veins of the body every two weeks.

Each prostate cancer is different and unique. You should always consult an oncologist from the best cancer treatment hospital in Delhi with good experience and knowledge before choosing a treatment for prostate cancer.