What Are Prostate Cancer Treatments?
For early prostate cancer, there are several options that you should discuss with your doctor. * Watchful waiting No immediate treatment may be needed in some men, especially those who have small, slowly growing tumours, or those with limited life expectancy. Your doctor will see you periodically to monitor your condition. * Radiotherapy (treatment with X-rays) This has been standard therapy for small, localised prostate cancer for many years. Radiotherapy involves daily outpatient treatment that lasts about 15-30 minutes each time, for up to seven weeks. Some patients can suffer irritation of the bowel or bladder, but this can usually be controlled by medication. Loss of erections (impotence) may be a problem. * Radical prostatectomy A biopsy of the lymph nodes takes place initially to see if the cancer has spread into them. If it hasn’t spread, the surgeon then removes the entire prostate gland (radical prostatectomy), preserving adjacent nerves where possible. If the cancer is confi
