Prostate Cancer Treatment Options 1

Prostate Cancer Treatment Options

A modern man's greatest fear when he gets old is not senility but prostate cancer. And even the fear of death isn't standing on an equal plateau with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is a double bladed sword, that's why many men fear the time ‘when it comes'. Just like menopause on women, prostate cancer is mostly acquired by aging men. The only difference will of course be, some men are spared of the disease while a lot others aren't. The causes for prostate cancer are still being explored and without much success for now. But the prostate cancer treatment options have gone a long way.

Here are the best known prostate cancer treatment options.

Androgen Deprivation Therapy, ADT

In the past, the practice for ADT (though practices have often changed name meanings) is only through surgical castration. Properly called as Orchidectomy, this ADT practice is shunned by men for obvious reasons. Thankfully another method similar in workings is already available, through the use of various hormone controlling drugs.

What it does is to control the body from either manufacturing or releasing testosterone or preventing the testosterone from transforming to a metabolite Dihydrotestosterone (abbreviated as DHT) which is a cancer stimulating cell. This is as of today the most employed prostate cancer treatment options.

Cryotherapy

Though cryotherapy has been an underdog in the past years, it has become more of a choice now as a more efficient way to address prostate cancer problems. Cryotherapy is a medical procedure that uses very low temperatures to destroy prostate cancer cells. By administering liquid argon on the affected area, the tumor cells are completely destroyed without damaging the neighboring tissues.

Because it is minimally invasive, it causes the fewest complications on a low percentage. Those complications unfortunately include sexual dysfunction among other prostate health problems.

Radical Prostatectomy

In the past, radical prostatectomy stands the highest percentage of success because it directly addresses the problem –removing the prostate gland. But because it requires extensive surgical skills, many operations regarding RP had resulted to impotence and 80%-100% incontinence. Truthfully, while it is still a viable option, the presence of other medical procedures makes this prostate cancer treatment options rather suicidal.

Radiation Treatment

-Including external beam radiation, Brachytherapy and High Dose Rate Brachytherapy. These procedures uses radiation doses delivered to the affected prostate area. Though it is among the more common prostate cancer treatment options, radiation treatment has become a lesser quality treatment due to its high rate of side effects plus the low percentage of effectiveness. And after you get a radiation treatment, it isn't feasible to have another battery of radiation dosage, meaning you'd have to opt for another prostate cancer treatment options.

So that leaves you, which prostate cancer treatment options is the best for you. That is depending on the skill of the medical practitioner, the degree of your cancer, and the patient trade-off you are willing to have. If radical prostatectomy and its accompanying quirks don't bother you at all, then sign for the next operation. Otherwise study closely the mechanics of cryotherapy.