Radiation Treatment For Prostate Cancer Is An Option For You

2007-03-08 10:33:40

( Pharmeceutical-Medical )



A doctor’s prostate cancer treatment strategy can involve hormone treatment for prostate cancer, prostate surgery or radiation treatment for prostate cancer. A combination of prostate treatment modes may be part of the strategy.

If you have been diagnosed for prostate cancer, the prostate cancer treatment options depend on how far your tumor has advanced. If the tumor is still confined within your prostate, your doctor may implement radiation treatment for prostate cancer or surgery. If the tumor has spread outside your prostate, surgery or radiation treatment for prostate cancer will no longer be as effective.

There are two approaches to radiation treatment for prostate cancer. The first is called external beam radiation therapy, which you receive from a linear accelerator emitting x-ray radiation. The therapy is typically administered five days a week and is painless, generally taking less than two minutes to deliver. You will need between five to eight weeks of external beam radiation therapy, depending on whether it is utilized alone or in combination with other prostate cancer treatments.

The second type of radiation treatment for prostate cancer is called seed therapy or brachytheraphy. This technique of seed implantation allows delivery of a high dose of radiation to your prostate while sparing adjacent structures like your bladder and rectum. Ultrasound-guided equipment assures proper placement of the needles which house the radioactive seeds (usually isotopes of either iodine or palladium). This is usually a short, out-patient procedure. If your cancer’s risk profile is high, your doctor may prescribe combined treatment of external beam therapy and seed therapy.

Whatever approach suits you, the effectiveness of both treatments for prostate cancer is about the same. Keep in mind that about half of those treated experience temporary impotency within two years after having radiation treatment for prostate cancer. And, the cancer could come back some years after radiation therapy.


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