Prostate Cancer TREATMENT OPTIONS

When prostate cancer is found in an early stage, immediate treatment is not normally necessary. You normally have time to conduct research and decide the best treatment option for you and your family. You should also consider getting a second opinion. Because prostate cancer is usually slow-growing, it can take weeks or months before treatment needs to begin.

After consulting with a radiation oncologist, the Gleason score, determined during a prostate biopsy, may indicate that the prostate cancer is so slow growing that no treatment is necessary for several months or even a few years. During this time your urologist will run periodic tests to find out if your PSA levels are increasing. This is called Watchful Waiting or Active Surveillance. If the PSA level goes up, more tests may be needed, including a biopsy, to see if the cancer has grown. Based on biopsy results, a prostate cancer treatment plan can be developed.

There are several options for treating prostate cancer that do not require surgery. For most patients, chemotherapy is not necessary since the cancer is contained within the prostate. Some of the most common non-surgical prostate cancer treatments use radiation to kill the cancer cells while trying to protect nearby healthy prostate cells as well as other nearby organs such as the colon, bladder and more.

For most men, prostate removal surgery, known as a radical prostatectomy, is not necessary. This is especially true if the cancer is found early and/or if it’s slower growing. If surgery is required, it’s typically done laparoscopically. This uses very small incisions to insert instruments to remove the prostate and reconnect the other organs in the area.