Medical Treatments for Prostate CancerThere are many different medical treatments for prostate cancer that involve the clinical care of a healthcare professional. These treatments include expectant therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy. Expectant therapy is to carefully observe and monitor the prostate cancer. Because prostate cancer cells often spread very slowly, many older men who have the disease may not need more extensive treatment. However, expectant therapy usually includes routine physician examinations, including digital rectal exams and PSA tests. The different types of surgery for prostate cancer are radical prostatectomy - an open-surgery procedure in which the entire prostate gland and surrounding tissue are removed. Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) - surgery to remove part of the prostate gland that surrounds the urethra. Cryosurgery - this procedure involves killing the cancer cells by freezing them with a small metal tool placed in the tumor. Side effects of prostate cancer surgery include incontinence and impotence. Incontinence is the inability to control urine and may result in dribbling of urine, especially immediately after surgery. Normal control usually returns within weeks or months after surgery. Impotence is the inability to achieve an erection. For a month, or so, after surgery, most men are not able to get an erection. Eventually, approximately 40 to 60 percent of men will be able to get an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse, but without ejaculation of semen, since removal of the prostate gland prevents that process.Radiation therapy uses high energy rays to kill or shrink cancer cells, and to decrease their ability to divide. Radiation is often used to treat prostate cancer that is still confined to the prostate gland, or has spread only to nearby tissue. If the disease is advanced, radiation may be used to reduce the size of the tumor and to provide relief from symptoms. Possible side effects of radiation for prostate cancer may include diarrhea, with or without blood in the stool, and colitis, problems associated with urination, a degree of impotence (inability to get an erection), which may occur within two years of radiation therapy. The goal of hormone therapy is to lower the level of male hormones in the body, particularly testosterone. Hormone therapy does not cure the cancer, and is often used to treat persons whose cancer has spread or recurred after treatment. Produced mainly in the testicles, testosterone causes prostate cancer cells to grow. Thus, reduced testosterone levels can make the prostate cancer shrink and become less active. Most studies show that hormone therapy works better if it is started early. Chemotherapy is the use of powerful, anti-cancer medications to kill cancer cells.. Hospitalization may be needed to monitor treatment and chemotherapy's side effects. Common side effects of chemotherapy include: nausea and vomiting, hair loss, anemia, reduced ability of blood to clot, mouth sores, increased likelihood of developing infections, fatigue. Most side effects disappear once treatment is stopped. |
| bone scan and prostate cancer |
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From That Wilder Shore: Bone Scan!, a prostate cancer journal From That Wilder Shore, I get a bone scan, a prostate cancer journal entry by Robert Vaughn Young (RVY). Bone scan: Using nuclear medicine to find bone abnormalities Your doctor may order a bone scan to determine whether cancer, such as prostate, lung or breast cancer, has spread (metastasized) to bone. Further tests for prostate cancer : Cancerbackup The bone is the most common place for prostate cancer to spread to. A bone scan can show abnormal areas of bone. A very small amount of a mildly radioactive ACS :: How Is Prostate Cancer Staged? (Even when prostate cancer spreads to the bone, it is still called prostate cancer, not bone cancer.) A bone scan can help show whether cancer has reached eMedicine - Prostate Cancer: Metastatic and Advanced Disease Bone scan: At initial presentation with prostate cancer, the value of a bone scan is limited in patients with a Gleason score of less than 7 and a PSA level The Prostate Centre | Bone scan bone scan. As part of the diagnostic process you may be expected to undergo additional tests to determine if cancer has spread beyond the prostate. The stages of prostate cancer So even if the tumour appears to be very small, but the bone scan shows that there is cancer in the bones, then the prostate cancer is Stage 4. Further tests for prostate cancer You may be asked to have a bone scan, as the bone is one of the commonest areas of spread for prostate cancer. But you may not need one if Detecting Metastases - Prostate Cancer Foundation A bone scan is similar to X-ray and is used to try to determine if prostate cancer has spread to the bones. ProstaScint Scan uses antibodies attached to Bone scans in newly diagnosed patients - Prostate Cancer Research Chybowski F, Keller J, Bergstrahl E, et al: Predicting radionuclide bone scan findings in patients with newly diagnosed, untreated prostate cancer; Prostate cancer - CNN.com Bone scan. A bone scan takes a picture of your skeleton in order to determine whether cancer has spread to the bone. Prostate cancer can spread to any bones |
| bone scan and prostate cancer |
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