What are Your Prostate Cancer Treatment Options?

Posted by George Suarez on July 26th, 2018

Every man is different and every incidence of prostate cancer must be treated with that fact in mind. There are a myriad of ways by which to treat prostate cancer. Treatment options should always be discussed with your doctor as they will have the broadest and most inclusive understanding of your specific case. The following are  prostate cancer treatments that can be discussed with and implemented by medical professionals.

 HIFU

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-surgical procedure that uses ultrasound waves that use heat to destroy the targeted, diseased areas. These waves can navigate through normal human tissues without causing damage, but instead focusing all the heat on the targeted area. This advanced technique is used to effectively decimate prostate cancer cells. The benefits of this procedure are as follows.

• Minimally Invasive: This is an outpatient procedure. Your doctor need only use local anesthetic, rather than general, meaning there will be no need for you to stay overnight in a hospital bed nor be monitored by professionals.
• Lower Recovery Times: Because the procedure is noninvasive and nonsurgical, your recovery time will be significantly diminished and you will be able to get back to your normal life more quickly.
• Minimal Damage: The ultrasound waves only damage cancerous cells and have no effect on the surrounding healthy tissues. This means that, unlike radiation, this technique can be used again and again without negatively impacting your body.
• Fast: Depending on the size of your prostate, the HIFU procedure will only take between 1 and 4 hours to complete.

 Surgery

Depending on the aggressiveness and location of your cancer, your doctor may recommend surgery. You and your doctor will discuss your options together to help determine your prostate cancer treatment options. Below are two surgical prostate cancer treatments that your doctor may recommend for you.

• Open Radical Prostatectomy: This surgical method involves your surgeon making an 8-10 inch incision below your belly button and removing your entire prostate. Because the surgery requires general anesthetic, you will be hospitalized and monitored following the procedure and your recovery will take up to 6 weeks.
• Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy: This is a less invasive surgical means of extracting your prostate. Your surgeon will make 4 to 5 small incisions across your stomach into which tools are inserted to carry out the surgery. This technique is less invasive, but still necessitates the use of general anesthetic and as such requires hospitalization. However, the recovery period is lessoned because of the smaller incision sites.