Prostate Cancer Treatments - Stages

Prostate Cancer Treatments - Stages
Do you know that nearly 1 out of 6 men living in North America will need to have some form of prostate cancer treatment throughout their lifetime? Should you happen to be 1 out of 6 diagnosed with a prostate malignancy you are fortunate to live in this day and time. Your chance of surviving more that 5 years after treatment is more than 98% to 100%. This article is aimed to help enlighten you about some treatments for prostate cancer.

The purpose of this article is for information only and should not be mistaken for medical advice. Always consult your doctor for any medical issue

Granted that the survival rate of prostate cancer is extremely high compared to other types of cancer, it is still a very serious illness. Information concerning your illness disclosed by your general practitioner should be discussed by you and your general practitioner with seriousness. You will be referred to a specialist by your doctor in many situations, such as an urologist or oncologist for further testing and treatment.

Your doctors will know which 1 of 5 stages of development your cancer is in once the results of the advanced testing have been obtained. The battle plan you and your physician will put together, will be determined depending on the stage of development the tumor is in.


Stage One: Malignancy found within the prostate only

Stage Two: More advanced cancer but still contained within the prostate

Stage Three: More advanced and spread outside the prostate to surrounding tissue

Stage Five: Cancer has metastasized (spread) to other parts of body

Recurrent: Cancer has returned after treatments

As this particular form of cancer is a very slow growing type of cancer, there are several options; you and your health professional may elect to follow. Below are some of the options available to you depending on which stage your cancer is in.

Stage 1: Often referred to as localized, the physician may suggest the following treatments:
• Wait and see. (Closely monitored)
• Radiotherapy
• Radical prostatectomy (full removal of the prostate)
• Hormone therapy

Stage 2: More advanced but still localized within the prostate only:
• Watchful waiting (with increased monitoring activity)
• Radiotherapy (may or may not be with hormone therapy)
• Radical prostatectomy (perhaps hormone therapy or not)
• Hormone therapy

Stage 3: Cancer advanced outside the prostate to nearby tissue:
• External-beam radiotherapy (Hormone Therapy or not)
• Hormone Therapy
• Radical removal of prostate (possible hormone therapy or not)
• Increased monitoring by the doctors

Stage 5: Prostate cancer metastasized (spread through out body and bones):
• Hormone therapy
• External-beam radiotherapy (with or without hormone therapy)
• Very closely monitored
• Chemotherapy

Reoccurrence of Prostate Cancer:
• Close monitoring
• Possibly all of the above treatments

As you can see from the above there are a good number of options open to men with prostate cancer. It will be up to you and your doctor to determine which prostate cancer treatment or combination of treatment would be right for you.