Modern Prostate Cancer Treatment Alternatives There have been tremendous advancements in the treatment of all cancers in the last twenty years, but for prostate cancer in particular, because it is quite a slowdeveloping one, especially in the early stages. This requires that it ought to be diagnosed in its early stages. If it is diagnosed early, there is almost a 100% chance of survival for at least five years, but total recovery is also commonplace. I hope that what I write below is accurate information, but it is my understanding of the research that I have done. I am not trained in medicine so if you are interested in any of the following treatments, please do your own research, do not rely on mine. The typical likelihood of survival for five years of longer for the most widespread different forms of cancer are: pancreatic cancer - 4%; liver cancer - 7%; cancer of the esophagus - 14%; lung cancer - 15%; cancer of the ovaries - 53%; bladder cancer 82%; breast cancer - 87%; testicular cancer - 96% and prostate cancer - 98%. The actual figures above vary somewhat from country to country and from survey to survey. One of the main reasons for the high success rate with prostate cancer is screening. Men are being tested for prostate cancer more often these days, so it is being diagnosed earlier too. Everybody has heard of chemotherapy because it used to be the normal treatment for all life-threatening cancers. Chemotherapy has numerous unpleasant side effects one of which was for the hair to fall out. Chemotherapy is only used in instances where nothing else is expected to be effective these days. Chemotherapy is normally solely used now if the cancer has spread far outside the organ of origin - the prostate gland. Metastasis is the spread of cancer. If metastasis has occurred, the patient might have secondary growths in the bladder, the lungs, the spine and other bones. Chemotherapy is the fastest way of blanket bombing the whole body and fighting all the cancers at the same time. Radical peritoneal prostatectomy is the complete removal of the prostate through the region between the penis and the anus. The removal of the prostate might be vital if hormonal and or other treatments have not worked and the cancer has not spread. Cryotherapy means the use of freezing to kill the growths locally. Cryotherapy is often used if the patient cannot undergo hormonal or radiation therapy. Some individuals would rather try cryotherapy than surgery as well. Cryotherapy is carried out by inserting probes through the skin and into the cancer. The ends of the probes then freeze the cancer. Cryotherapy might be used in conjunction with other forms of therapy or on its own, but this is true of all the therapies.
it is common for a patient to undergo several different forms of treatment at the same time or after one another, so that the cancer is being tackled from a number of directions at the same time. This strategy also involves that the body does not have to suffer too much of one kind of therapy. Cryotherapy is a fairly new treatment and there are also contemporary external beam therapies. Proton beam radiation has been used for 50 years but neutron beams are a newer variation. Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now concerned with prostate cancer and radiation treatment. If you want to know more go to What is the Treatment for Prostate Cancer?