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Treatment Alternatives for Prostate Cancer

By: M. Goz

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utilized to remove or kill the tumor. In cases where the cancer has spread beyond the Prostate gland, which is my situation, hormone therapy is used to prolong an individuals life and stop the pain generally associated with bone metastases. However, once metastases has occurred the disease can no longer be cured, but its progression can be slowed. A separate article will discuss Hormone Therapy in greater detail, as it relates to the treatment of Metastatic Prostate Cancer.
Survival should be the number-one goal for patients when choosing a treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. Unfortunately, the best option isn’t always obvious, and patients find themselves facing difficult choices. They must balance the effectiveness of each treatment with potential side effects and sometimes even the cost of treatment. Even with health insurance it may be necessary to travel great distances for the best available treatment. For example, anyone who asks me where to go for treatment with radioactive seeds I recommend the Dattoli http://www.dattoli.com/ Center in Sarasota Florida. While they provide other types of treatment as well they are renowned for their excellent outcomes and cutting edge research in radioactive seed implantation.
In an effort to assist patients and their doctors in making these difficult decisions, UCLA’s Prostate Cancer Program has ongoing studies of quality-of-life outcomes after the four most common types of treatment for localized prostate cancer:
1) Minimally invasive robotic prostatectomy (surgery)
2) Nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy (surgery)
3) Radioactive seed placement (brachytherapy)
4) External-beam radiation therapy
Studies have found virtually no differences in efficacy among the three major therapies for the treatment of early stage prostate cancer however, each one of these treatments affects urinary, sexual and bowel functions differently. UCLA has tried to objectively measure each of these side effects. Measurements were obtained using a questionnaire given to patients prior to treatment and periodically for two years after treatment. The UCLA urologists found that brachytherapy patients frequently experienced obstructive and irritating urinary symptoms such as frequency of urination and feeling an urgent need to urinate. They also reported bowel dysfunction such as frequency and urgency, diarrhea and pain with stool. External beam radiation patients suffered from urinary irritation and bowel problems similar to patients receiving radioactive seeds.
Surgery patients more often reported problems with incontinence such as urine leakage when coughing or sneezing as well as sexual dysfunction, although the latter was mitigated with successful nerve-sparing surgery.
The impacts caused by radioactive seed implantation and external beam radiation were most similar and patients choosing those options suffered fewer incidents of erectile dysfunction. While erectile dysfunction was more common with surgery patients, they did not suffer from bowel dysfunction as often.
The best therapy for a particular individual depends on the individuals pre-treatment status. As an example, patients with pre-existing bowel dysfunction should not choose external beam radiation as the first line of therapy because the treatment inevitably irradiates the adjacent rectum in addition to the prostate and can cause severe and long-term bowel problems. Similarly, individuals with urinary obstructive problems should not opt for brachytherapy, which exposes the prostate to radiation and can severely worsen pre-existing conditions.
Ultimately the final choice regarding treatment options will be an individual one. Different men are bothered by different things and may have different health problems prior to treatment. For example, if an individual is impotent prior to treatment loss of sexual function won't be an issue in making his decision regarding treatment alternatives.
Each individual treatment will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent articles/blogs.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

To read all my articles/blogs visit prostratecancertreatments.blogspot.com/

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