Health and Prostate

The main treatment modalities for prostate cancer (CaP) include "watchful waiting"; local therapy (prostatectomy or radiotherapy, either external beam radiation therapy [EBRT] or brachytherapy); hormonal therapy; and chemotherapy. Watchful waiting is generally reserved for elderly men, who, because of short life expectancy or slowly progressing disease, are likely to die with CaP rather than because of CaP. Local therapies alone can often cure patients diagnosed with early-stage (I or II) prostate-confined disease. Hormonal therapy is used primarily to delay disease progression when local therapies have failed. Chemotherapy is generally reserved for hormone-refractory disease to palliate symptoms. A growing trend in CaP treatment is the use of intermittent therapy. Hormonal therapies are often administered for three years or more as adjuvant therapy. Although their sideeffect profile is mild compared with that of many chemotherapy agents, they do have several undesirable effects (e.g., hot flashes, sexual dysfunction, gynecomastia [excessive development of mammary glands]). To reduce these side Read more [...]