Possible Prostate Treatments

Again, it can’t be stressed enough, early detection is imperative in combating prostate cancer. The Challenge is that in the early stages there are no symptoms of prostate cancer.  By the time symptoms appear in the form of urinary complications, the cancer has spread beyond the prostate.

Treatment options vary depending upon several factors such as age, overall health of the patient and whether there is evidence of bladder infection or kidney damage resulting from an enlarged prostate.

Faced with the enormity if your disease, when you add treatment options into the mix it can be overwhelming to say the least.  This is why we recommend that second opinion.  We will take a look at some of those options here.  Just remember, that the best option for you will be the one that you and your doctor determine is the best route for your situation.  When it comes to treating prostate cancer there’s no such thing as “one size fits all.” 

There are some questions that you will need to address before selecting any of the options your physician may recommend.  Let’s take a look at some of those now.  These shouldn’t be taken lightly, as you will be making decisions that will absolutely affect the rest of your life.

·    Other than the prostate cancer, are you in good over all health?

·    Is the cancer confined to the prostate?

·    How fast is it growing?

·    How old are you?

·    Is it important for you to be able to maintain control of your bladder or bowel?

·    Would you find it unsettling to live with cancer that is untreated and have to look at strict monitoring of the disease?

·    Are you healthy enough for surgery?

Treatment Options for Localized Cancer

In this situation you are looking at Stage I or II based on the Gleason Score.  In this particular scenario, you are looking at three different choices of treatment for treatment that can result in long term survival. 

One is called Watchful Waiting; one is Surgery; and finally Radiation.  Let’s explore each of these options further.

Watchful Waiting: Managing Postrate Cancer 

Watchful Waiting is the term coined by the medical community to describe an approach for managing cancer that has not yet moved beyond the prostate gland. This approach is also known as “observation” or “surveillance.”

Because cancer in this stage advances very slowly there is the possibility that it will not cause any lifetime problems.  This is especially true of older men.  Men who opt for this approach do not participate in any active treatment without cause.  They visit their physicians for monitoring but unless a problem arises they have no other treatment.

If there are no indications of infection, kidney or bladder damage this can be a reasonable approach.  Other obvious advantages to this approach are sparing the man pain and potential side effects related to surgery or radiation. 

The down side of this approach is the risk of decreasing control of the disease before it spreads.  Another minus factor is postponing treatment until a man is more at risk from the side effects and the difficulty of dealing with the treatment itself.  Some men also find that dealing with the stress of having cancer and doing “nothing” about it can cause panic and anxiety.

Watchful Waiting is more viable for older men who have tumors that are very small and growing very slowly as mentioned above in the low-grade Gleason Score. 

Some men who opt for this approach have been known to live for years with no outward signs of disease and in several studies for as long as 10 or 15 years, there is no significant difference in life expectancy than those men who were treated with surgery or radiation.

DISCLAIMER: Note that the contents here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and all health care planning should be made under the guidance of your own medical and health practitioners.