Hearing your doctor say “prostate cancer” can be terrifying. Many questions flood the mind, and choosing among the many prostate cancer treatment options feels overwhelming. It is important to understand all available options and factors to find relief and peace of mind.
You might be wondering if treatment is necessary right away. Maybe someone told you to avoid testosterone therapy because you have prostate cancer.
Understanding Your Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
A rising PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level often triggers further investigation. If you are under 50, a PSA over 2 is a massive concern. This is why the standard recommendation of anything over 4 is considered dangerous, because no special consideration is given.
Between 50 and 60, we give you up to 3. But over 60, we start looking at that 4.0 level. Having an elevated PSA signifies a possible problem.
The Role of PSA and Biopsies
The PSA test is like a “check engine light.” A high PSA doesn’t always mean cancer, but it signals a need for further testing. A biopsy is the next step, giving us confirmation.
An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) helps pinpoint the biopsy location. This directs the process, so a doctor might get more reliable data.
Testosterone and Prostate Cancer: The Facts
A common misconception is that testosterone causes prostate cancer. It does not increase your chance of cancer growth or of it ever spreading. Prostate cancer will grow more slowly if testosterone is reduced.
This doesn’t mean testosterone *causes* cancer. Reducing testosterone in men with existing prostate cancer only slows its growth. It is unlikely to improve any condition in a man diagnosed.
Prostate Cancer Treatment Options: What You Should Know
Traditionally, prostate cancer treatment focused on whole-gland approaches. This often resulted in unwanted side effects of incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Knowing this is often unacceptable, so patients will consider every possible treatment option.
Focal therapies offer less invasive alternatives. Instead of treating the entire prostate gland, we aim to remove only the portion affected. They target the specific cancerous areas.
Focal Therapy: A Closer Look
Focal therapies aim to destroy cancerous tissue while preserving healthy parts of the prostate. Several methods exist for these procedures.
Here are some examples:
- Laser Ablation: Uses a laser within an MRI to burn out the cancerous sections of the prostate.
- Cryotherapy: This freezes the prostate tissue. It involves needles.
- Nano Knife: It also needs needles but electrifies them and effectively kills all tissue impacted.
These choices may provide many patients with lower side effects while improving erectile function and urine output. The data continues to prove this with each case, and there are also even more advanced prostate cancer treatment options. There may be hope with all of it.
High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU)
Focused ultrasound, also called HIFU, uses focused sound waves to create heat. Just like using sunlight focused from a magnifying glass, this procedure generates targeted heat. This avoids cutting, bleeding, and radiation, reducing the future chance of secondary cancers.
HIFU offers several advantages. HIFU is also done as outpatient in one visit and doesn’t leave patients incontinent or damaged.
- It treats larger surface areas that other alternative treatments might be capable of covering.
- No needles enter through the skin. All procedures of this type are done inside a machine through the wall of the patient’s body.
- It gives a focal point that allows for less impact on nearby sections of the body, which other procedures may not allow for.
Traditional Prostate Cancer Treatments
Beyond focal therapies, conventional treatment options remain viable for many patients. Deciding not to do anything will generally keep someone worried about their outcome in the near future. Active surveillance is an option, especially for low-risk or slow-growing cancers.
Standard treatments include:
- Surgery (Radical Prostatectomy): Removing the entire prostate. This offers the benefit of removing all impacted cancerous regions.
- Radiation Therapy: This is about 45 separate radiation treatments a man needs, impacting two full months of a man’s time. This sounds terrible because other surrounding tissue, like bone, can have consequences or urinary incontinence after cancer treatment.
- Hormone Therapy: Hormone therapy is often used in combination with other treatments. It works by reducing the levels of hormones that can fuel prostate cancer cell growth.
Exploring clinical trials may offer access to cutting-edge treatments. Discuss this possibility with your doctor. Participation in clinical trials contributes to advancing cancer care for all.
Factors in Choosing the Right Treatment
If you’re seeking options for prostate cancer treatment, here are a few things to consider. Choosing the best treatment requires consideration.
Considering Age and Overall Health
Age plays a role in treatment decisions. Older men, particularly with low-risk prostate cancer, might opt for active surveillance.
Younger, healthier men, as well as Black men who have a higher cancer risk, with more aggressive cancer may lean towards treatments like external beam radiation. Always consult your doctor. These treatments offer the best cancer cell elimination odds.
How cancer treatment waiting affects survival depends on these key health points:
| Overall Health Point | How Treatment Decisions May Get Affected |
| General Health | The better it is, the more they qualify for many options. |
| Tumor Risk/Size | Larger tumors, and how aggressive it is, play an important role in what might be selected by a physician. This could influence decisions around using external beam radiation, or exploring targeted therapy. |
| Metastasizing Regions | Some cancers will spread to different parts of the body, potentially to the lymph nodes. So, finding these areas helps improve treatments and make better informed treatment decisions. |
| Gleason Score/Grade Group | These factors, which assess the aggressiveness of the cancer cells, are crucial in making treatment decisions. |
The Grade and Stage of Your Cancer
The cancer stage describes how far the cancer has spread. A lower grade means that if we wait long enough, then a nearby region in the prostate may also develop.
The cancer stage refers to how much cancer exists. The most serious cases are men diagnosed later and may only find that cancer in various organs now, or possibly metastasized. If the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, it’s considered advanced cancer.
If we consider factors like the tumor stage and health factors of the man, a strategy is critical. Treat prostate cancer based on individual risk groups is essential.
Understanding Potential Side Effects
Every treatment carries potential side effects. Discussing any and all effects openly, and asking questions with a healthcare team, will always help guide everyone to an option that best aligns with them. It may change, and new options may occur.
For example, surgery could lead to prostate cancer-related complications later on in life. Or there could be new opportunities from the continued progression in technology that could come later. Options such as palliative care can help manage side effects and improve quality of life, regardless of the chosen treatment.
Seeking a Second Opinion is Okay
It is understandable that where you go matters a lot. The level of your care could dramatically be impacted as you seek assistance with the disease.
Medical professionals often work together, particularly those involved in our business. Our PA and NP (physician assistants and nurse practitioners) get checked, often multiple times weekly, on various medical topics and patients we treat together. Finding medical care you can rely on is what you hope to receive.
Conclusion
Exploring prostate cancer treatment options means balancing various factors. You have to juggle your health situation, treatment side effects, and life goals when creating any plan.
Remember that second opinions are important for options, giving that peace of mind. Making treatment decisions with a focus on survival rates and individual risk factors is crucial. A urologist focused on providing personalized care will do that.