Prostate Cancer Treatment

A biopsy examination is highly important in diagnosing prostate cancer. Needles are inserted into the patient's prostate gland to draw tiny samples of the tissue. The biopsy is carried out using ultrasound imaging, to reduce the patient's discomfort. It is a short procedure, and rarely needs the patient to stay overnight in hospital.

In the event that the growth on the prostate gland is found to be cancerous, then the patient will need to begin an immediate course of treatment. Prostate gland treatment specialists will discuss with the patient the various treatment options available to him, and how they suggest the disease best be treated. The factors that they will take into account is the age of the patient, how advanced the disease is in his body, the general physical condition of the patient and his attitude and willingness to undergo treatment and withstand its side effects.

Depending on the seriousness of the disease, the surgeons will suggest surgically removing the entire prostate gland along with some surrounding tissue. The side effects of this treatment will certainly affect many aspects of life quality of the patient. The most prominent and feared side effects are erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. Recent advances in conventional medical technology have enabled urologists to improve, albeit slightly, the quality of the patient's life after the surgery, However not significantly.

Another option available is radiation therapy. This treatment involves the targeting of localized cancer cells and surrounding tissues. These cells and tissues are targeted with beam radiation directed at the target area. Under radiology treatment the radiologists inserts tiny radioactive pellets made from metal into the patient's rectum. With this treatment the same side effects will almost certainly be experienced by the patients. These include urinary problems, rectal bleeding and later erectile dysfunctions

After the patient has undergone one of these equally unpleasant treatments, then the chances are that he will undergo a course of chemotherapy to ostensibly destroy any cancerous cells that may have spread throughout his body. The side effects of chemotherapy are well known and are often feared as much as the cancer itself. They include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Patients will also lose their hair, but this is usually less traumatic in a 65 year old man!

All in all the attitude of conventional medicine towards prostate cancer and its treatment is fairly open-ended; Doctors are less likely to press their patients to undergo treatment. The reason appears to be that the treatment itself is not pleasant, the side effects are final and irrevocable and greatly affect the quality of life for whatever time they have left to live.

More and more people have adopted a form of alternative and healthier life style and as a viable method for preventing and treating diseases, amongst them cancer. Known as holistic medicine, this method of treatment disallows the use of invasive and pharmaceutical techniques to treat prostate gland cancer. Results have shown that this form of treatment can be effective and provide a cure f with none of the side effects of chemotherapy.

Cancer

Alternative Prostate Cancer Treatments