What Is Your Treatment Stage?
To narrow the list of options, analyze your situation. What is your age and overall health? Was your cancer detected early? Are the tumors slow or fast growing? Did the doctors find your cancer localized in the prostate or had they moved to the lymph nodes? Have tumors been found in other areas such as the bones, liver or lungs? These answer will help determine the best treatment options for you.Your doctor uses a "staging system" to rate your cancer based on some of these questions and should provide you with a TNM number. There are four prostate cancer treatment stages, and the severity is higher as the number goes up.
What is my prostate cancer treatment stage? - Determine your prostate cancer stage by using the TNM number that the doctor has given you. This will take you to an explanation of the stage, along with generally recommended prostate cancer treatments for men with this stage prostate cancer.
If you already know your prostate cancer treatment stage, you can select it here:
- Stage I Prostate Cancer Treatments
- Stage II Prostate Cancer Treatments
- Stage III Prostate Cancer Treatments
- Stage IV Prostate Cancer Treatments
Tried-and-True Treatments
At one end of the treatment spectrum are the tried-and-true methods that offer high rates of success but with significant side effects. You may consider these options if your greatest concern is that the prostate cancer does not return.- Prostatectomy - complete surgical removal of the prostate.
- External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) - radiation treatments aimed at the tumors from outside the body.
- Brachytherapy (also known as "seed therapy") - small radioactive "seeds" are implanted directly into the prostate in specific targeted areas to kill the tumors. It's a newer therapy, just now showing great long-term results with fewer side effects.
Newer Treatments
At the other end of the spectrum are the newer treatments that are less invasive, but don't have many years of solid research showing their long-term effectiveness.- Cryotherapy - (also known as cryoablation, cryosurgery) uses intense cold targeted directly at tumors to kill prostate cancer cells.
- High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) - Strong, high-pitched sound waves targeted at tumors. A relatively non-damaging alternative to radical prostatectomy for local prostate cancer. This treatment is being tested at several cancer centers, but is not yet approved by the FDA.
Adjunct and Other Treatment Options
Your doctor may also recommend adjunct ("additional") treatments to stop the spread of cancer along with the primary treatment depending on the extent of your cancer spread.- Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Treatment, also known as "androgen deprivation therapy," reduces the testosterone levels which drive prostate cancer cells to multiply.
- Orchiectomy (testicle removal), considered a hormone treatment for advanced prostate cancer, removes the primary source of testosterone that drives most prostate cancer growth.
- Watchful Waiting, (also known as "active surveillance"), may be an option, especially if you are older and your cancer is small, contained and slow-growing.
