4 Treatments for Prostate Cancer You Might Not Have Thought Of
More than 260,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. The good news is that there are many different treatment options available, including ones that have nothing to do with chemotherapy, and they can both lessen your symptoms and improve your overall prognosis. Here are just a few of the lesser-known treatment options for prostate cancer.
Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy can be used for early-stage prostate cancer, so it might be an option for you if you’ve been recently diagnosed. It involves freezing your prostate to cause the death of the cancer cells within it. Small needles will be placed into your skin like probes, and they’ll deliver a cold gas to freeze the prostate, its surrounding tissue, and its cancer. Though it’s sometimes called “cryosurgery,” there’s no actual surgery in this procedure, and it’s considered quicker and less invasive. However, there can be side effects that aren’t seen with surgery.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy (RT) is similar to chemotherapy in the sense that both procedures will attack the cancer in your prostate. However, chemotherapy uses medication while radiation therapy uses radiation beams. If you’re a candidate for radiation therapy, your urologist might recommend one or both types: internal and external. Internal RT, also called brachytherapy, involves the use of small “seeds” or “ribbons” placed inside of the body near the area of the cancer. External RT is the kind done by a machine that directs energy rays at the cancer.
Surgery
Going under the knife can be a treatment for prostate cancer. It’s called a prostatectomy, and it involves removing the prostate and sometimes the tissue around it. There are several types of prostatectomy, and they vary in terms of risks, recovery times, and remaining nerve function after the surgery is complete. You’ll need to talk to your urologist to determine both if you’re a candidate for a prostatectomy and how you’ll want to approach the procedure if it’s right for you.
Hormone Therapy
Also called androgen deprivation therapy, this is a treatment for prostate cancer that involves starving the cancer cells of the hormones that they need to thrive. Testosterone is a big one. So is dihydrotestosterone (DHT). By stopping or slowing down the production of these hormones, you can stop or slow down the progress of your prostate cancer. You should know, however, that hormone therapy isn’t a cure. It’s merely a treatment or management technique.
Prostate cancer impacts everyone differently, which is why there’s such a wide range of treatment options. Use these suggestions as a starting point for exploring various prostate cancer treatments, including ones that aren’t as common or well-known as others.