Treatment for Advanced Prostate Cancer
Treatment for Advanced Prostate Cancer
If you have an advanced stage of prostate cancer (stage III and IV), it means the disease has spread outside your prostate gland. Doctors can treat this type of cancer, but they can’t cure it. Still, there are good options that can ease your symptoms and help you live a long, active life.
Talk with your doctor about the treatment that’s best for you. Ask him about the kinds of side effects you might have. You’ll want to choose a path that gives you the best results with the fewest risks.
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Your main options for treating advanced prostate cancer are:
Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. It can help shrink tumors and ease bone pain and other symptoms.
Doctors might give you this therapy in a few of different ways:
External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) focuses X-rays on your prostate from a machine outside your body. The doctor will direct the radiation right to the gland and adjust the dose to target the cancer without damaging other parts of your body. The treatment takes just a few minutes, and it doesn’t hurt. You’ll probably go in to a clinic and get it 5 days per week for about 7 to 9 weeks.
Brachytherapy uses small pellets, about the size of rice grains, which slowly give off radiation inside your prostate. Doctors will give you medicine to put you to sleep or make your body numb, then put the pellets in through thin needles.
Radium 223 (Xofigo) kills cancer cells that have spread to the bones. It uses a type of radiation that sticks to bone minerals. Your doctor will inject it into your vein once a month.
Your doctor will do everything he can to keep from damaging other parts of your body, but some men have side effects from radiation, such as:
Talk with your doctor about the treatment that’s best for you. Ask him about the kinds of side effects you might have. You’ll want to choose a path that gives you the best results with the fewest risks.
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Your main options for treating advanced prostate cancer are:
- Radiation
- Hormone therapy
- Surgery
- Watchful waiting or active surveillance
Radiation
Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. It can help shrink tumors and ease bone pain and other symptoms.
Doctors might give you this therapy in a few of different ways:
External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) focuses X-rays on your prostate from a machine outside your body. The doctor will direct the radiation right to the gland and adjust the dose to target the cancer without damaging other parts of your body. The treatment takes just a few minutes, and it doesn’t hurt. You’ll probably go in to a clinic and get it 5 days per week for about 7 to 9 weeks.
Brachytherapy uses small pellets, about the size of rice grains, which slowly give off radiation inside your prostate. Doctors will give you medicine to put you to sleep or make your body numb, then put the pellets in through thin needles.
Radium 223 (Xofigo) kills cancer cells that have spread to the bones. It uses a type of radiation that sticks to bone minerals. Your doctor will inject it into your vein once a month.
Your doctor will do everything he can to keep from damaging other parts of your body, but some men have side effects from radiation, such as:
- Diarrhea, blood in their stool, and other bowel problems
- Trouble controlling urination, or a leaky bladder
- Erection problems
- Feeling tired
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