Prostate Cancer Treatment
Prostate cancer treatment is generally divided into three different categories that depend on the high energy wave used. These are:
• Proton Beam Therapy that uses protons
• Neuron Beam Therapy that uses neutrons
• 3D-CRT (Three Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy) that uses subatomic electrons to deliver high energy photon radiation waves.
Prostate cancer treatment by radiation is being used for a long time since 1915. The first radiation treatment techniques did not really penetrate deeply enough to irradiate the cancerous tumors and resulted in skin cancer as well as morbidity. By the 1980s, equipment like the linear accelerator was used by oncologists that increased speed of the high energy particles and aimed better at the target area.
Fractionated prostate cancer treatment by radiation
This is an external beam radiation (EBR) where small doses of radiation are targeted over an area for a period of around 5 to 9 weeks depending on the patient. It was found that the cells that were healthy and normal could recover from the small doses of radiation very quickly while the cancerous ones could not. Those patients that choose to have this external radiation therapy should have the following:
• A PSA level of 10 or lower
• A Gleason score of 6 or lower
• Localized cancer that is contained in the prostate gland itself
• No abdominal scars due to previous surgeries
Newer forms of EBRT
IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) and 3D-CRT (Three Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy) are the newer forms of EBRT (External Beam Radiation Therapy) that work by the aiming of high energy particles at the cancerous tumors and tissue. This prostate cancer treatment is non-invasive and is therefore a great option for those patients who do not wish to undergo surgery or invasive treatment.
The PSA score of 10 or lower and the Gleason score of 6 and lower shows that the cancer is contained and localized and not spread to the surrounding tissues and organs. Both these types of prostate cancer treatment are ideal as they eradicate/destroy the cancer in the prostate without affecting or touching the organs that surround it. It is obvious that if the cancer has already spread, then the organs and tissues that surround the prostate gland are under greater risk.
Patients wishing to undergo prostate cancer treatment like radiotherapy should also consider the fact that ERT (External Radiation Therapy) may cause healthy tissue of the bladder and the rectum to be exposed to some of the radiation. If there are scars in the abdominal region due to previous surgery the risk of exposing the colon and the intestines to the extra radiation is greater. A man who has had radiation treatment earlier cannot have it again.
Salvage prostate cancer treatment
This type of prostate cancer treatment involves brachytherapy. However, if brachytherapy is not successful then as the prostate gland has already undergone high radiation doses, further radiotherapy is not advised as a salvage treatment. In any case, radiotherapy would not be successful if brachytherapy has already failed. It is patients who have benign prostatic hyperplasia who should consider radiotherapy.
