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Treatment for prostate cancer Active surveillance Some prostate cancers are very slow growing and can be present for years without affecting your health. Your healthcare team will watch the cancer closely. Your doctor will examine your prostate and test your PSA levels regularly. A TRUS or biopsy may be done from time to time. Immediate treatment may be considered only if signs of cancer appear or change.If immediate treatment is recommended, you might receive one or more of the following treatments. | |
Surgery A decision to have surgery depends on the stage and grade of the cancer, your general health and your PSA level. During the operation, the entire prostate will be removed. This is called a prostatectomy. Some nearby tissue may also be affected by the surgery. Surgery is done under general anesthetic (you will be unconscious) and you may stay in the hospital for several days after the surgery. After surgery, you will have a narrow tube called a catheter in your bladder, but this is usually removed within a few days. You may have some pain or nausea, or may not feel like eating. These side effects are temporary and can be controlled. Surgery to the prostate can damage the nerves that control your ability to have or keep an erection (impotence). When possible, nerve-sparing surgery will be used to try to avoid nerve damage. After prostate surgery you may have problems controlling your bladder (incontinence). Problems with incontinence usually improve with time. Radiation therapy In external beam radiation therapy, a large machine is used to carefully aim a beam of radiation at the prostate. The radiation damages the cells in the path of the beam – normal cells as well as cancer cells. In brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, radioactive beads or seeds are placed directly into or near the prostate. Side effects will be different depending on what part of the body receives the radiation. You may feel more tired than usual, have diarrhea, or notice changes to the skin (it may be red or tender) where the treatment was given. Radiation for prostate cancer may irritate the rectum and cause changes to your bowel movements. You may also need to pass urine more often. These side effects are a result of damage to normal cells. The side effects will usually improve or go away when the treatment period is over and the normal cells repair themselves. Hormonal therapy Hormonal therapy is a treatment that removes or blocks hormones and stops cancer cells from growing. Prostate cancer needs the male hormone testosterone to grow. Hormonal therapy gets rid of testosterone or lowers the level of testosterone in your body to slow the growth of the tumour and to shrink it. The level of testosterone in the body can be lowered by surgically removing the testicles (bilateral orchiectomy) or by using drugs. Hormonal drugs can be given as pills or injections, or both. Today, it is more common to use drugs to lower testosterone than it is to remove the testicles. Hormonal drug therapy may cause some side effects in some men. Different drugs cause different side effects, such as hot flashes, impotence, loss of desire for sex, weight gain or breast tenderness. Your bones may become weaker. These effects can usually be reduced or controlled. They often go away when therapy is finished. Chemotherapy Chemotherapy may be given as pills or by injection. Chemotherapy drugs interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread, but they also damage healthy cells. Although healthy cells can recover over time, you may experience side effects from your treatment like nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, hair loss and an increased risk of infection.Chemotherapy is not used to treat cancer of the prostate in the early stages of the disease. | 
发表于 2011-8-24 15:56:43
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