Advanced Prostate Cancer Treatment

Prostate cancer is one kind of cancer that is easily treated. Most of the cases of this cancer are commonly diagnosed at an early stage. Patients are given the best advantage to have the cancer cells controlled at the earliest stage possible. However, there are still cases when the cancer has already spread and affected the entire prostate which makes it difficult to treat.

Truth be told, doctors have not found a treatment for advanced prostate cancer. In fact, many advanced prostate cancer patients only get treatment to prolong their life and not to eliminate the cancer.

Cancer Treatments

However, there are still several options available for patients with prostate cancer that has already advanced its stage.

For example, there is the common chemotherapy treatment. The drugs used in chemotherapy will at least control the malignant cells from affecting other parts.

A drug called Provenge is also being introduced. This is not the common vaccine. It slows down the progress of the cancer. Just like chemotherapy, the most that it can do is to extend the patient's life. It can add a month or even a year.

There are also hormones which can be given to the patient. This is based from the study that the male hormone, testosterone, is the substance responsible for promoting the growth of the cancer. This means that by causing the body to reduce its production, the growth of the tumor is also slowed down.

Radiation therapy is also another option available. This makes use of an x-ray machine which emits high-energy waves. The radiation is applied directly to the tumor. This was known to be more effective when combined with hormone therapy than hormone therapy alone.

These are just few of the available advanced prostate cancer treatment. Consult a doctor before choosing which one will be administered to the patient.

Advanced Prostate Cancer Treatment

Cancer Treatments

Prostate Cancer New Treatment - There is Hope For Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer

In July 2008, there was a media frenzy over the new drug "abiraterone" which a clinical study claimed dramatically reduced the size of a prostate tumor and had long term benefits that greatly outweighed any other treatment on the market. As prostate cancer is such a common and deadly disease amongst men it is little wonder there was such intense media coverage of this story.

However, at the time of writing the leading researcher for the team in Britain who are developing abiraterone has admitted that the press have hyped up the drug far beyond its actual capabilities at the present time. He also pointed out that the drug is not yet a cure, as it works on some people and not on others.

Alternative Cancer Treatments

Abiraterone is a prostate cancer new treatment that works along the same lines as hormone treatments. However, instead of blocking the testicles from generating testosterone the drug blocks the testosterone that is believed to be made by the tumor. This helps because it is now thought the tumor in its late stages actually lives off its own supply of testosterone.

It has been estimated that if the drug is a successful new treatment after a much larger clinical trial it will not be available until 2011.

The good news, even though it will be a small comfort to men who have prostate cancer now, is that the illness is finally getting the research it deserves and needs to find a prostate cancer new treatment. It is no longer the ignored disease that it once was, which gives us all hope that a cure will be found in the future.

Prostate Cancer New Treatment - There is Hope For Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer

Alternative Cancer Treatments

Advanced Prostate Cancer - Life Expectancy - Part 1

Many people don't really know what to expect when it comes to prostate cancer and so they end up with different conflicting views about the condition, especially when it gets advanced. There are those people that have ended up making very dire mistakes because they don't really know what IS, when it comes to this deadly disease. The first part of this article looks at the advanced stage of the condition and what to expect in terms of life expectancy.

Advanced Prostate Cancer life expectancy may vary from person to person based on the merits of an individual case. Usually, doctors are not very keen on disclosing such information for fear that it might affect their patients in a physiological and psychological level, but knowing that that is usually the question that patients most need answers to, they are often forced to speculate.

Alternative Cancer Treatments

But how much speculation really is in it? Late stage or advanced prostate cancer is not considered as being curable to a large extent, although it is still very treatable. Usually the doctors offer the best of palliative care that they have access to in order to improve the quality of life of the patient. Palliative care for advanced stage of the condition focuses on extending life and relieving the symptoms of the disease.

After being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, many men are told that their disease is untreatable and that less aggressive treatment is best. Life expectancy is often placed somewhere between five and eight year with watchful waiting or even some mildly aggressive form of prostate cancer treatments.

Advanced Prostate Cancer - Life Expectancy - Part 1

Alternative Cancer Treatments