Hence, it has been confirmed also that this hormone encourages the growth of cancer cells in the body. So, hormone therapy is usually applied to reduce this hormone and the effect it has promote cancer that form from the prostate gland.

Hormone therapy can fail for some people and in this case, their condition is considered hormone -refractory. In other words, the cancer no longer responds to the hormonal treatment applied on them. Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC) often occurs in the life of most people diagnosed with aggressive, metastasis, or advanced prostate cancer. The antiandrogens treatments applied are resisted by the cancer. Another name for this type of cancer is hormone resistant prostate cancer.

If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and you want to learn about how the Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC) is treated, here are some highlights on some of the most effective treatments often recommended.

• Chemotherapy drugs like Jevtana and Docetaxel are known to help improve the conditions of those with Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC). Studies have shown that these medications can increase the life span of the patients for several months.
• Bisphosphonates, which is a medication that can be used to relief the symptoms of aggressive prostate cancer that have affected the bones. This medication is therefore, helpful when dealing with the effects of Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC). Pains and other symptoms can be checked when this medication is applied.
• Apart from the above forms of medications to fight-off hormone resistance prostate cancer, there is a new vaccine that has shown promising effects against HRPC. This is called Provenge. It has been approved by the FDA as a vaccine that helps to spur up the immune system against the spread of cancer cells in the body. Most doctors can apply this medication to counter the effects of Hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) in the body.

Finally, although there is still no concrete treatment for Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC), a lot of researches are on going to discover new promising agents, medications, and therapies that would eventually provide permanent cure for Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer (HRPC). Consult with your health care provider for more details on this type of aggressive prostate cancer.

You don’t have to undergo all these side effects if the only option you have to treat your localized prostate cancer is through surgical procedure. You can opt for laparoscopic Robotic Prostatectomy. This is another surgical procedure for treating localized prostate cancer but with less invasive surgical technique. This procedure is also known a robot – Assisted prostatectomy or Robotic Surgery. Here are highlights of the benefits you will enjoy when going for this type of surgery to treat localized prostate cancer.

• When carrying out Laparoscopic Robotic Prostatectomy, there is minimal incision. This means that you are to experience minimal loss of blood, minimal use of the catheter and fast recovery.
• This type of surgery ensures you experience reduced risks of urinary incontinence. In the more traditional approach, nearby tissues could be damaged because of the incisions but in the Laparoscopic Robotic Prostatectomy, these inconveniences are minimized.
• In addition, this robotic surgery brings about less risk of sexual dysfunction. This is based on the fact that the surgeon has clear view of the structure or anatomy of the body, and is less likely to make damage cells responsible for sexual functions during the procedure.
• Other benefits of undergoing Laparoscopic Robotic Prostatectomy include less scarring on the body, less pain, and better precision in carrying out the surgical process.  For sure, there is nothing you would want more than this.

The advantages that laparoscopic surgery has over the more invasive approach cannot be overemphasized. The above benefits highlight the chief benefits you should expect. So, you may want to opt for Laparoscopic Robotic Prostatectomy so as to undergo a less invasive surgical approach when treating localized prostate cancer. For more details on this procedure, talk to your doctor or Board Certified Surgeon and Urologist.  They can tell if you are really a candidate for this type of surgery.

 For a start, radiation therapy or treatment is a kind of treatment whereby high intense rays are applied on the cells of the prostate gland to destroy the cancer growth on them. The treatment may be recommended for treating early stage cancer of the prostate. A lot of men are diagnosed with this condition in America and it is the second highest killer of men with cancer related diseases. Lung cancer is still the leading killer among other cancer diseases.

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer are those who may be around 50years and above, those with family history of prostate cancer, those who are of African American origin, those exposed to certain toxic chemicals like Agent Orange, those that take more of certain diets that increase the growth of cancer cells, etc.

Radiation therapy can be applied internally or externally. While this treatment is very effective, it usually comes with certain side effects as described below:

Infertility – This is not what any man would want to keep up with. If extreme heat from the radiation affects the testicles, there is a high chance that the man may suffer from erectile dysfunction and infertility. If you are going for this treatment, then you should talk to your doctor about this.

Bowel problems – After the treatment on some men, it has been discovered that they often complaints of diarrhea, pain during defecating, bowel frequency, etc. This is caused by damage to the rectal area as a result of the radiation.

Incontinence – This is about one of the major side effects of radiation treatment. It occur when radiation causes damage to the urinary sphincter. As a result of this, the man will not be able to control passing of urine.

Fatigue – this is another common side effect of radiation therapy. The person would feel tired or get fatigued easily.

Other side effects include damages to tissues of bladder, rectum, and other vital organs exposed to the radiation.

The above are some of the side effects of radiation treatment. Measures can be taken to deal with these symptoms. However, some people may suffer from some them for the rest of their lives. In addition, surgical options may be required to correct some of these symptoms.

So, it is important you understand these side effects so you know what to expect during radiation therapy. Talk to your doctor for your realistic expectations. There are other side effects of radiation therapy that have not been mentioned in this article. Your doctor will provide more details for you.

Early stage prostate cancer may still be cured by a variety of interventions which may be combined or administered monotherapeutically. The catch is that they have side effects which might impact the life of the patient after the treatment and cure have been effected. It is therefore important to choose wisely because the man will definitely live with the consequences of those choices after the treatment has been completed. 

Prostate cancer surgery, or radical prostatectomy, is perhaps one of the best cures for early stage prostate cancer, and perhaps has some of the most debilitating sides effects that there are. The patient will certainly suffer from incontinence for a while after the treatment, which is likely to fade off afterward, but the impotence that results from the procedure may not likely depart so quickly.

Most men assert that they have to remain on pills for the rest of their lives post treatment by surgery, others say it’s the VED pumps, and some get prescriptions from doctors for penile injections to regain a semblance of potency.

It is similar with most other prostate cancer treatments, but there is the additional radiation proctitis to deal with in the instance of radiation treatment, either by EBRT – external beam radiation therapy – or brachytherapy. The proctitis causes mild rectal bleeding and diarrhea, which eventually fade some weeks after the completion of the radiotherapy, but which are very uncomfortable while they last. The fecal and urinary incontinence issues are however more severe when it come to radiation therapy.

Hormonal therapy also has its side effects that the patient may have to live with for years after the conclusion to treatment. Orchiectomy, a low-risk surgery, has a psychological impact that may be significant for some patients; while the loss of testosterone can cause hot flashes, weight gain, loss of libido, enlargement of the breasts (gynecomastia), impotence and osteoporosis. And using GnRH agonists may eventually worse symptoms like increased bone pain, increased the risk for cardiovascular disease, and blood clots.

The use of antiandrogens generally don’t result in impotence and is gentler on the bones and muscle mass, but they may predispose liver damage with prolonged use; and some even cause skin rashes.

A recent study published in the European Urology journal has revealed that the applications of Robot-Assisted Prostate cancer surgery are much more successful than the open radical prostatectomy. The reason is that it provides men with better outcomes and fewer complications. The following extract throws more light into this publication:

Robot-assisted surgery is now both more common and far more successful than radical “open” surgery to treat prostate cancer in the United States, according to a new Henry Ford Hospital study published in the current issue of the medical journal European Urology. The research, led by scientists at Henry Ford Hospital’s Vattikuti Urology Institute (VUI), is the first to compare in a nationwide population sample the results of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) to the standard surgical procedure, open radical prostatectomy (ORP).

The researchers found, based n a representative 20 percent sample of the U.S. that:

• 19,278 patients underwent RARP or ORP in 647 medical institutions between October 2008 and December 2009. • Of those, 11,889 underwent RARP and 7,389 underwent ORP. • More RARPs were performed at teaching institutions in urban locations, and a higher proportion of RARPs were performed at high-volume hospitals. • RARP patients were less likely than ORP patients to need a blood transfusion, less likely to have a prolonged hospital stay, and less like to suffer complications during or after surgery, including cardiac, respiratory, and vascular problems.

ORP involves opening the lower abdomen with a long incision, and removing the entire diseased prostate gland and some surrounding tissue in the hope of preventing the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.

A similar procedure, known as RARP, is done through tiny incisions using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Henry Ford Hospital pioneered the use of robots to assist surgeons in this delicate procedure, and the new study confirms earlier Henry Ford findings that RARP is now the most common technique in the United States for treating localized prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common “solid organ” malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men. Radical prostatectomy became the standard treatment after it was shown that the surgery resulted in higher survival rates than “watchful waiting.”

But in the past 10 years, “we’ve seen a significant trend toward the use of minimally invasive approaches to RP for the treatment of prostate cancer, particularly in the U.S.,” says Quoc-Dien Trinh, M.D., a fellow at VUI and lead author of the study.

“While this evolution has been controversial, there have been few comparative studies. Most of those looked only at single institutions or single surgeons, and they were of poor evidentiary quality.”

Most significantly, the new study found “superior” results with RARP in virtually every outcome studied, including the amount of necessary blood transfusions, complications during and after surgery, and length of hospital stay.

At Henry Ford, which did much of the original work on robotic surgery for prostate cancer, 98 percent of patients go home within 24 hours of the operation and major complications are less than 2 percent, according to Mani Menon, M.D., director of Henry Ford’s Vattikuti Urology Institute.

In selecting the study’s subjects, researchers relied on the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read the full article here.

Conclusively, since it has been confirmed by studies( the above inclusive) that prostate cancer can be effectively treated with the Robot- Assisted approach when compared to invasive surgery, it is quite important that you consider your option now. If surgery is mandatory for you, talk to your doctor about your realistic expectations. It is also important that you are aware of the side effects of this treatment. The truth is that even with robot assisted radical prostatectomy; everyone may not be the right candidate for the procedure. So, consult in details with your doctor to ensure you can undergo this treatment for early detected cancer of the prostate.

Follow up treatments like hormonal therapy and Cyrotherapy can be applied to salvage the situation. But studies have shown that cryotherapy could be much more effective in this situation than hormonal therapy. The following paragraphs highlight the applications of both treatments as curative options for prostate cancer. You also need to understand why cryotherapy is preferred to hormone therapy in this case.

Hormone treatment as curative prostate cancer treatment

Studies have shown that a high level of the hormone testosterone in the body stimulates cancer growth. Hence for this reason, hormonal therapy is applied to cut down on the level of testosterone and lower the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Hormonal therapy is effective in slowing down cancer growth even though it cannot CURE prostate cancer completely. This treatment comes with some serious side effects which affect may appear worse than the symptoms of prostate cancer. These side effects may include:

• Fatigue,
• loss of libido
• weight gain
• hot flashes and sweats,
• breast enlargements
• bone loss, which may result to higher risk of fracture
• cognitive impairment
• impairments on insulin/glucose regulation
• Possible cardiovascular problems, etc.

There are also strong linkages between patients undergoing hormonal therapy and an increase chance of them having diabetes and heart diseases.

Cryotherapy as a prostate cancer treatment

That being said, Cryotherapy can be applied as an alternative treatment in place of hormonal treatment. This can be substantiated by the fact that Cryotherapy is more effective to treating recurrent prostate cancer cells. Those who have had unsuccessful radiation therapy can use this treatment as curative treatment for the disease.

Cryotherapy is a medical approach whereby freezing temperatures are applied on cancerous cells to destroy them. This treatment is based on the fact that diseased cells could hardly stand extreme temperatures. It is also called Cryoablation. This treatment is known to be very effective in treating recurrent prostate cancer after the patient has unsuccessfully undergone radiation treatment. This option offers fewer side effects as most patients who have undergone it have less risk of urinary incontinence and improved sexual performance.

Conclusively, cryotherapy is a preferred treatment for recurrent prostate cancer than hormonal therapy. Various studies and testimonials from patients have affirmed this. You can still discuss with your doctor on the best option to treat a recurrent cancer of the prostate.

The hormone testosterone is not directly responsible for prostate cancer progression, but it works with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) from the adrenal glands to cause the prostate to produce DHT – dihydrotestosterone. It is DHT actually that the cancer feeds on to fuel its growth and advancement.

Hormonal treatments seek to interfere with this process at any point in order to deprive the cancer of its critical DHT. One procedure for instance is an orchiectomy, a surgical process that removes the testicles of the patient to stop the production of testosterone. A relatively safe procedure, and inexpensive, it immediately causes the cancerous tissue to begin to shrink in size. Another treatment however uses drugs instead of surgery.

It is understandable how men might be concerned about losing their testicles and thus being castrated in order to cure prostate cancer, and so they opt for antiandrogen medications that are actually more expensive yet incidentally perform precisely the same function without taking out the testicles. These drugs are also called androgen blockers.

In instances in which the cancer proves to be rather aggressive or stubborn, total androgen blockage may be considered as a necessary approach to treating the disease. Also known as TAB, this procedure uses a combination of the two types of hormonal treatments that there are (surgery and medications) in order to achieve an instance in which there are no hormones at all in the body available for the cancer to feed off of. Most times the cancer does regress this way.

The challenge with hormonal treatments is that they rarely cure prostate cancer.   Hormone therapy may be used against the disease in early stages to cause the prostate cancer tumor to shrink so that prostatectomy or radiation treatment can be used to cure the condition; but in many instances, it is saved for treatment of advanced disease to slow its progression. And when hormonal therapy does not work, chemotherapy is usually brought into play.

What  Cryotherapy is all about

Cryotherapy is a treatment that involves the use of very low temperatures to destroy cancer cells. When you develop cancer on the cells of the prostate, this treatment option can be applied to destroy those cells without causing damage to the healthy tissues. The application method of the freezing temperature is controlled and precise. Hence, less side effects are most often encountered than with the use of radiation therapy.

Cryotherapy can be categorized as prostate cryotherapy and salvage cryotherapy. The former is applied is applied as the primary or first treatment for prostate cancer. The latter on the other hand is prescribed after radiation therapy has failed on the individual.

It offers milder side effects

The most important attraction of this treatment is the fact that it brings about low side effects. In this case, it a much better option than radiation therapy, which is known to bring about high risk of urinary incontinence and other symptoms. Studies have shown that this treatment can help to improve the urinary functions of patients who have had difficulties in urinating before undergoing radiation. So, if your concern is about the side effects of prostate cancer radiation treatments, cryotherapy can be your  very best alternative. You will have less to worry about side effects.

It is an established and recognized treatment in the United States

Cryotherapy is approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of the United States as an effective treatment option for prostate cancer. The approval may not be unrelated to the fact that patients who underwent the treatment have fewer side effects, and the nature of this treatment is curative. If you are in the United States, the good news is that Medicare and most insurance companies provide coverage for treatment in all the 50 states. So, you have less to worry about the cost of undergoing the treatment.

Finally, cancer of the prostate metastasizes slowly from the prostate gland to other parts of the body. If the right treatment is applied, the cancerous cells can be destroyed without causing harm to surrounding tissues. Cryotherpy is one of the few options available. You can discuss with your doctor or primary health care provider if this treatment would be suitable for you. More facts on this treatment can be accessed from many medical websites.

Just as in other forms of cancer diseases, different types of treatments have been discovered to help treat the condition. Of all the treatment options for prostate cancer Radiation therapy is more often applied. Perhaps, this has to do with the fact that it can work in all stages of prostate cancer. Here are more relevant details about this type of treatment.

Radiation therapy is a kind treatment whereby high intense rays are administered to kill cancer cells. The objective of this treatment is to destroy only cancerous cells and prevent them from spreading to healthy cells or tissues. For many years, this option has been effective in treating prostate cancer. Other quick facts on this treatment include:

• Two categories of radiation therapy can be administered to the patient who suffers from cancer of the prostate. These are known as external radiation and internal radiation. As their names suggest, the external radiation is carried outside the body while the internal radiation is implanted inside the body.
• Intensity- modulated radiation therapy and 3- dimensional conformal radiation therapy are types of external radiation.
• Brachytherapy uses implantation of radioactive seeds inside the prostate to destroy cancer.
• Cryotherapy is a form of radiation therapy that uses low temperature for treating affected cells.
• Radiation therapy can be used for treating early stage prostate cancer. It may be chosen in preference to surgery. When the cancer is advanced, this treatment can help to relieve the symptoms in the individuals.
• Side effects of radiation therapy include: incontinence, urinary problem, bowel problem, ligher, dry and tender skin, hair loss, etc.

If you are planning to for radiation therapy of any kind, it is advisable you talk to your doctor. You should ask him all the relevant questions on this treatment. You should have realistic expectations and don’t forget to be instructed on the all the possible side effects.  The questions you are mostly likely to ask the doctor will include but restricted to the following:

• What type of radiation would be suitable for you?
• Will the treatment become very effective for me?
• What are the chances that the cancer will not resurface after the treatment?
• What things will I be doing before, during and after surgery?
• Will I be treated as an inpatient or as an out patient?
• What side effects should I expect?

These are other questions should be answered by your doctor as you plan to submit yourself for radiation therapy. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), your doctor and other specialists can provide you with more details on this type of treatment. The NCI website is a good place to know more about this treatment.

 The symptoms of early stage prostate cancer

Unfortunately, the diagnosis of cancer in the prostate of many men cannot be significantly identified. This is because some of the signs are similar to other conditions like those experienced by people that have enlarged prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and some kind of infection in the lower abdominal area. When the person is experiencing pain when urinating, passing out blood in urine and semen, having frequent urge to pass urine, etc, then it is likely that the cancer in the prostate advanced in stage. So, early stage symptoms of prostate cancer are not usually clear because the cancer is slow growing.

Treatment for early stage prostate cancer

Cancer of the prostate can be treated when detected early. The use of some effective treatment options is known to provide relief to many men. Surgical procedures known as radical prostatectomy is one method that can help to remove the affected prostate. Another very effective treatment is the use of radiation treatment. This is especially with the type called the Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). This option is known to be of more effective than Proton therapy and other radiation techniques. The IMRT can help to destroy cancer cells that are localized with minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells.

Whatever treatments you opt for, it is important to understand that there are side effects associated with each method. Your doctor should  provide you with more details on this.

So, there is hope for you if you are trying to deal with early stage prostate cancer. Radical prostatectomy and IMRT are treatment options that can provide you with relief. Your doctor should be consulted so you can get information on how these treatments work. In addition, you would be checked to see if you qualify for any of them. In some cases, a combination of any of these and other treatments options can help to provide you with best cure. Discuss further details with your doctor or health care provider.