The next step after a person has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, is of course the treatment. Depending of the state in which the cancer is, there are various treatments. Side-effects often occur in these kind of cancer treatments, therefor is best to discuss with your doctor the kind which is most suted for you. This beefing said, I will now present some of the ways in which prostate cancer can be treated.



For people who have a tumor that is growing slowly, no treatment is required. It is only necessary to do routine check up's and monitor closely the cancer, so at a given time, if necessary, to start a treatment. Next could be surgery, used only on helthy people, usually under 70, whose cancer hasn't spread. Another type of surgery, called prostatectomy, is the most used in cases of prostate cancer. This means that the whole prostate is removed, together with seminal vesicles.

Often used in all types of cancer is also the radiotherapy, whose purpose is to destroy the maliganam cells. This is not very healthy and it may often cause side-efects. Given this fact, nowadays a more advanced ways of radiotherapy have been invented: conformal radiotherapy and high resolution therapy.

The first can shape the beams of the radiation to match the prostate, consequently reducing the risk of damaging the other healthy cells surrounding the organism. The secound has the advantage that the doctor can dosage himself the radiotherapy given to the pacient.

Another solution to fight prostate cancer is by using brachytherapy. Radioactive seeds are implanted in the tumor and so the radiation si released in time, because these seeds have a time expectancy of one year. Another way of treatment is by blocking the action of hormones in a man's body. By doing this you can reduce the growth of the lump, but unfortunately the cancer cells are not distroyed.

As an alternative, we find the orchidectomy. This is an operation that removes a pacient's testicles, which are the main testosterone source. But the patients do not use this treatment very often, preferring to take drugs instead if they want to block their testosterone.

Until now, I have showed you the ways in which prostate cancer is treated these days. But more to come are: the surgery by which the patient's prostate is freezed with liquid has of the treatment using high frequency sound waves.