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‘Not all cancer needs to be cured’: Five ways that prostate cancer treatments have improved

For decades, doctors treating men with prostate cancer could offer only extreme choices: surgically remove the prostate, target it with radiation that often damaged healthy tissue nearby, or remove the testicles. Treatments commonly caused pain and debilitating side effects such as incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Today, however, a prostate cancer diagnosis comes with a widening range of options that are more precise, less harmful, less invasive, and more personalized to the patient’s body and life circumstances. Some of the advances in surgery and radiation began taking hold in the mid-1990s and have continued to evolve, while other treatments have emerged in the past 10 to 15 years.

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 To Treat Prostate Cancer, There Are More Options Than Ever

It’s among the most common cancers affecting older men. But a diagnosis today isn’t always what it seems.

Articles of Interest

Prostate cancer treatments: What you need to know

All come with side effect risks. Here's a look at the most common ones to help in your decision making. Men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer often follow active surveillance. This wait-and-see approach involves monitoring the cancer for changes with routine PSA testing and biopsies. If at some point those findings suggest the cancer has grown and is likely to spread, treatment is recommended. There are three main options: surgical removal of the prostate, radiation to destroy the cancer cells, and hormone therapy to slow the cancer's growth. Your chosen path will depend on factors like your age, health, cancer stage, and personal preference. Another aspect of treatment to consider is what side effects are possible.

Advances in Prostate Cancer Research

NCI-funded researchers are working to advance our understanding of how to prevent, detect, and treat prostate cancer. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer will live a long time, but challenges remain in choosing the best treatments for individuals at all stages of the disease.

Initial Treatment of Prostate Cancer, by Stage and Risk Group

For prostate cancers that haven’t spread (stages I to III), doctors also use risk groups (based on how far the prostate tumor has grown, PSA level, grade, and prostate biopsy results) and sometimes special lab tests to help guide treatment options. Risk groups range from very low-risk to very high-risk. Cancers in the lower-risk groups have a smaller chance of growing and spreading compared to those in higher-risk groups.

Men With Prostate Cancer Can Thrive for Years With Less Aggressive Treatment

Mortality in large study was equivalent whether men underwent surgery, radiation or surveillance.

New AI test can predict which men will benefit from prostate cancer drug

Artificial intelligence tool determines best candidates to take abiraterone, which can halve risk of death from disease

New prostate cancer treatment may be ‘on the horizon’, say scientists

Ability to reverse cancer’s resistance to therapy opens possibility of treatment for late-diagnosed men.

New Therapy for Aggressive Prostate Cancer Improves Survival

The experimental treatment relies on radioactive molecules that seek out tumor cells, a strategy that may be useful against other cancers.

Prostate cancer surgery breakthrough offers hope for erectile function

Neurosafe procedure allows doctors to remove prostate while preserving as much nerve tissue around it as possible.

Prostate Cancer Treatment & Pharmacologic Management

Most therapies for early stages of prostate cancer involve either surgically removing the tumor or active surveillance. Because many prostate cancers require testosterone to grow, hormonal therapies aimed at reducing the amount of testosterone are frequently used in addition to medical procedures. Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) refers to tumors that continue to grow in the absence of testosterone. Chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radio-ligand targeted therapy can be used for CRPC or aggressive and recurrent disease.

Prostate Cancer Treatment Doesn’t Save More Lives Than Active Surveillance

Prostate cancer has always been an exception in the cancer field. Unlike most forms of the disease, it’s slow-growing, and while it can be fatal, in most cases it’s indolent enough that men are more likely to die of other causes than the cancer itself.

Prostate cancer treatment is not always the best option – a cancer researcher walks her father through his diagnosis

Research suggests that many prostate cancer patients undergo unnecessarily aggressive treatments, which are often associated with significant harms, like urinary and bowel incontinence, sexual impotence and, in some cases, death. Several studies in the U.S. have shown that patients with early-stage prostate cancer have a good prognosis, and the cancer rarely progresses further. With careful observation, most will never need treatment and can be spared the burdens of unnecessary therapy until there are clear signs of progression.

Treatment can do more harm than good for prostate cancer − why active surveillance may be a better option for some

Although about 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, only about 1 in 44 will die from it. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer die from other causes, especially those with a low-risk prostate cancer that usually grows so slowly it isn’t life-threatening. However, until about a decade ago, most men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer were immediately treated with surgery or radiation. Although both can cure the cancer, they can also have serious, life-changing complications, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

What to Know About Complementary Therapies for Prostate Cancer

For people battling prostate cancer, the fight can feel like a contest between the disease and the doctors. Their body is the battlefield, but they may nonetheless feel marginalized—more bystander than active participant.