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An in-depth report on the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of prostate cancer.
Treatment choices are generally based on the patient's age, the stage and grade of the cancer, overall health status, and the patient's personal preferences for the risks and benefits of each therapy.
Patients should be aware that doctors may be biased to prefer a specific treatment depending on their specialty, with urologists tending to recommend surgery and radiation oncologists recommending radiation therapy. It is always wise to seek a second opinion. Delaying treatment, while having the cancer monitored for signs of progression, is also an acceptable option.
Stages indicate the extent of the cancer:
Depending on the cancer stage and other factors, patients have four main treatment options:
The U.S. National Cancer Institute recommends the following treatment options by cancer stage:
Tumors: T1a, N0, M0, G1, Stage A
Tumors: T1a - c, N0, M0, any G, Stage A2, B1, or B2
Overview of Treatment Options for Localized Prostate Cancer. To date, neither treatment nor active surveillance has emerged with a definitive survival advantage for localized prostate cancer. However, several recent studies have suggested that treatment provides a survival advantage over watchful waiting for some men with early-stage prostate cancer.
Recent guidelines recommend that patients with localized cancer should be classified as low, intermediate, or high risk. Doctors determine the risk category by using criteria such as PSA tests, tumor aggressiveness, and the clinical stage of the tumor. Based on these risk groups, evidence indicates that:
Tumors: T3, N0, M0, any G, Stage C
Tumors: Any T, any N, any M, any G, Stage D1 - D2
If prostate cancer has been eliminated after initial treatment, PSA levels should drop after surgery. After radiation, they may not drop as far because some of the prostate gland may remain. A sudden rise or persistently elevated PSA levels after treatment are often indications that prostate cancer persists.
It is common for PSA levels to temporarily rise following radiation seed implantation without signaling cancer recurrence. Rising PSA levels do not necessarily mean that the cancer has spread or even that clinical cancer will recur during a man's lifetime.
Treatment options for recurrent cancer depend on various factors, including prior treatment, site of recurrence, coexistent illnesses, and individual patient considerations.
Prostate cancer treatments can cause distressing side effects by impairing sexual function (erectile dysfunction), urination (incontinence or difficulty urinating), bowel function (incontinence), and energy levels (fatigue). A man must weigh his own emotional responses to the possibility of these side effects versus the possible stress of active surveillance.
Side effects vary among patients and it is difficult to predict how an individual patient will respond. In general, the side effects most likely to occur by treatment modality are:
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