The prostate is a small gland in men that produces the fluid that helps to transport and nourish male sperm cells. Prostate cancer is frequently seen in men, with 16 percent of men in the United States affected by it. The treatments of prostate cancer vary. Radiation is the most common kind of therapy used for this disease. Hormone therapy, surgery and chemotherapy are also used to treat prostate cancer, each with their own side effects. What type of prostate cancer treatment is used on a person depends on his age, how fast the cancer is spreading and his overall health.
External beam radiation treatment
1. One kind of prostate cancer treatment is called external beam radiation treatment, also known as EBRT. This treatment utilizes radiation from high-powered X-rays to kill cancer cells, but it also can affect nearby healthy tissue as well. Computers are used to focus the radiation beams to where they will cause the least damage to surrounding cells but still be able to destroy the cancer. This treatment for prostate cancer is given five days a week for a span of up to eight weeks in most cases, with the time involved for each treatment rarely exceeding 10 minutes. EBRT causes no pain but a full bladder is necessary during this treatment so that the bladder itself is not in the way of the radiation beam. Some of EBRT’s side effects include problems urinating and the urge to urinate all the time. Loose stools and some bleeding from the rectum are not uncommon, but these side effects usually subside soon after treatment is finished.
Radioactive seed implants
2. Another prostate cancer treatment that employs radiation is radioactive seed implanting. Guided needles actually put up to 100 tiny radioactive "seeds" into the prostate gland in a one to two hour procedure done with the use of anesthesia. These seeds can deliver more radiation than in an EBRT and the radiation in the seeds is all gone after about a year. Radioactive seed implants are done over a time frame of a few months. They can cause urinary troubles such as slow and painful urination that are long lasting and sometimes require that men use drugs to combat the symptoms and even catheters to allow them to urinate pain-free. Erectile dysfunction can also occur with this treatment.
Hormone therapy
3. Cancer cells can be stimulated to grow by a hormone called testosterone. Hormone therapy for prostate cancer focuses on stopping the body from manufacturing this hormone. This is used in advanced cases to slow down tumor growth and to reduce the size of the cancer. Drugs are used in certain combinations to decrease testosterone production while others are used to keep the cells from using testosterone. Cancer cells eventually can learn to live without the testosterone, so hormone therapy is usually done intermittently. The side effects of this treatment include a reduction in sex drive, erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, possible weight gain, nausea and decreased muscle and bone mass.
Surgical options
4. The operation to remove the prostate is called a radical prostatectomy. The gland and close-by lymph nodes are taken out. Retropubic surgery involves the gland being taken out through the lower abdomen while perineal surgery removes the prostate through an incision that is made between the anus and the scrotum. These surgeries are options when the cancer has not advanced out of the prostate. Side effects of these procedures are bladder control troubles that can clear up after a few months in most cases and erectile dysfunction that reverses in most healthy males.
Other treatments
5. There are other ways to treat prostate cancer. Chemotherapy is used when the cancer has spread to other parts of the patient’s body. Chemicals that kill cancer cells are injected or ingested, with strong side effects such as vomiting and nausea possible. Cryotherapy is used to freeze tissue in an attempt to kill cancer cells. A treatment called "watchful waiting" is an option when the patient is very elderly and/or in failing health. The cancer is closely monitored and if it is slow to progress, causing no symptoms, and small then no treatment will be considered.
Nearly all men dread the very thought of needing prostate surgery for many good reasons. It is a "wakeup" to a man’s aging process and can be painful and embarrassing, with post-surgical consequences that are concerning, if not downright scary.
But before you enter the abysses of prostate surgery, you need to be armed with information. You need to know what to expect, what your options are and how the potential post-operative consequences, such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, will be handled. You are the patient, therefore you are in charge.
Prostate cancer is one of most common types of cancer in men. There are numerous treatment options from chemotherapy to radiation to surgery. Prostate cancer can affect anyone. Recently, Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was diagnosed with it, but the creator of such mega hits as "Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats" has vowed to return to the stage by the end of the year.
As with all prostate disease — there are several things every man needs to do — and know about his prostate.
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Know your family history of prostate disease.
If prostate disease has been a factor in your family you need to consider getting regular screening tests and exams. Although the standard screening typically does not begin until age 40 for most men, that can change significantly if there has been a strong and early history of prostate disease in your family. Also, some very compelling research has demonstrated that men of color and men who have sex with men may be at higher risk for many forms of prostate disease.
You should review some basics of what the prostate is, what it does and what clinical problems can result with their prostate as men age. The prostate is a sex gland whose main function is to produce fluid to help create semen, which is the substance that transports sperm during male ejaculation. Semen is the milky white substance that is released from a man’s body during orgasm, and sperm is the man’s biological substance that when combined with a female’s egg can result in pregnancy.
The normal prostate is about the size of a walnut and is located underneath a man’s urinary bladder. The tube (known as urethra) passes through the prostate and serves the dual function of carrying urine and semen from a man’s body. When semen is passed through the prostate gland it "picks up" seminal fluid to help sperm become viable for pregnancy.
The urethra being embedded in the prostate gland can sometime become constricted if the prostate gland become enlarged or inflamed, which can lead men complaining of urinary frequency, urgency, hesitancy, and even some urinary dribbling.
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Get an annual prostate exam that includes both a digital rectal exam (DRE), whereby the clinician gently inserts a gloved finger in your anus to palpate the size, shape and consistency of the prostate gland. The second test is a blood test known as the Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA). The normal level of the PSA is about 0 to 4. An elevated PSA may indicate some type of infection, growth or other abnormality of your prostate gland. Both tests, the DRE and PSA, should be done annually. One test does NOT replace the other.
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Talk to your primary care provider about the condition, size and shape of your prostate. Also, do not shy away from letting your clinician know about any of the annoying constitutional symptoms such as urinary frequency, urgency and dribbling.
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You and your provider may elect to attempt a trial of medications at first if your prostate exam and PSA are within a reasonable range. This is fine, but it should be noted that intervention with medications can take up to several months for real results to be seen by the patient. Please talk to your doctor about this and develop a game plan of care.
Before looking at surgical considerations with prostate disease it is important to review three of the most common types of prostate problems that impact men.
An inflamed or infected prostate is termed prostatitis. Prostatitis can be an acute or chronic inflammation of the gland cause by bacterial, viruses and sexually transmitted disease. Treatment for prostatitis is usually medical in nature and does not involved surgery. Prostatitis can happen to men of any age, and usually resolves with symptom treatment and some medications.
The second most common prostate condition is an enlarged prostate. The prostate gland begins to enlarge in men in their 40s. As men age, the prostate takes a second growth spurt that slowly compresses the flow of urine and semen from the urethra. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a normal part of aging and usually progresses as a man ages. Common symptoms will include trouble with urination, maybe some burning, hesitancy and even erectile dysfunction. There are several drugs available that help relieve the symptoms of BPH.
Medical treatment of BPH can include one or two medications. The first group of mediations, Finasteride (Proscar) and Dutasteride (Avodart), can actually prevent progression of growth of the prostate or shrink the prostate in some men. The other class of drugs help by relaxing the smooth muscle of bladder that can constrict urine flow. These agents, terazosin (Hytrin), doxazosin (Cardura), tamsulosin (Flomax) and alfuzosin (Uroxatral), work in this manner. They DO NOT, however, decrease the size of the prostate. A recent study looked at using two different agents together to achieve better symptoms relief. Finasteride (which helps reduce prostate size) and doxazosin (which relieves bladder neck constriction) used together nearly doubled the improvement of symptoms then when each drug was used alone. Think about it; the drug that relieves the contrition works faster and provides some early symptom relief while the drug that reduces the prostate’s size takes longer to achieve its goal, so you are getting the best of both worlds and faster.
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Do not settle for having ED just because you have a prostate problem. You have the right to have healthy sex just like anyone else. There or numerous treatment options available from oral medications to injections or even implants. Stand up for your sexual rights.
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Discuss getting involved in a support group for men with prostate cancer and/or surgery. You are not alone. There are millions of men just like you that are craving support.
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Know and discuss your options with your provider and your partner. Sex is an incredible gift and should never be dismissed as "over" just because a man is of a certain age or has a medical condition. There are answers out there; demand to know what they are!
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prostate cancer screening
Any man over the age of their mid-thirties is likely find they are often advised to have a prostate exam when they have a physical checkup.When this’s sensible there are some problems and they might be hesitant to suffer the indignity of the procedure & require reassurance to enable them to obtain it isn’t such a big deal whether they fear.
For lots of men there’s a fundamental fear of a prostate test and what it involves and there are various motivation for those concerns.One of their worries is that through having such an exam recommended for them it may recommend they are getting old & even though middle aged & this does not sit well by many men.
Then there is also the feeling that this would be an intrusive system that goes against many your innermost feelings about individual privacy and it is not surprising that you might be painful about this. Well, it is an invasion of the privacy of your body but then hence is surgery and we don’t get bothered about that when you let things reach too far gone therefore you needed urgent invasive medications. [click to continue…]
Over 50% of mddle aged men experience problems associated by an enlarged prostate. Whether men reach older their opportunity of suffering from these troubles also increases. Natural prostate medical vitamins assistance in the battle against prostate problems, and to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, & aid in prostate problem recovery.
What’s the Prostate Gland?
Whether a man gets older, the prostate gland would keep on to increase in size to approximately the size of a walnut. The fluid that transports the semen is produced by the prostate gland. Prostate enlargement can make urinating extremely unpleasant because of the pressure it puts on the urethra. It might also cause erectile dysfunction. [click to continue…]