Prostate Cancer Remedies

Ridding your body of prostate cancer is a joint effort that will take all of the focus and concentration that you, your loved ones, and your medical team can offer. In confronting prostate cancer, it pays to understand the various options for treatment. In so doing, you will be better able to choose a treatment method that is right for your particular situation.

Surgery Options

• Consider surgery to remove all or part of the prostate gland where the cancer has yet to spread to other areas of the body. The primary benefit to surgery is that all of the cancer is excised with one fell swoop. According to the National Cancer Institute, this surgery can be performed by utilizing an incision in either the abdomen or in the perineum (the area between the scrotum and the anus). In considering surgical options, you will also have to choose between having the surgery performed manually (traditional "open" surgery) or robotically. Robotic surgery using a device called the "DaVinci" machine has become a popular alternative to traditional prostate surgery as it reduces the overall recover time of the procedure. However, according to an article published on MCall.com, there are some questions about whether robotic surgery increases the risk of side effects from the procedure such as impotence or incontinence. These are considerations you will have to make with your doctor's assistance if surgery is an option.

Additional Options

• Consider additional prostate cancer remedies where the cancer has spread, or just to ensure that all of the cancer cells are fully destroyed following a prostatectomy. These treatment methods include chemotherapy and radiation treatment. During chemotherapy, poisonous drugs are introduced into your body to ferret out and destroy cancer cells. In radiation therapy, targeted radiation will be used to destroy the genetic material of the cancer cells, rendering them unable to continue dividing. While there are few options associated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy allows for some choice. These choices generally include whether to receive internal or external radiation therapy, a decision which will depend on the particular facts of your case, including how aggressive the cancer is and how far it has managed to spread. Internal radiation therapy is also known as "pellet" therapy, and is used for minor cases of prostate cancer. It involves the injection of radioactive pellets into the prostate, which proceed to destroy the cancer from within. External radiation therapy consists of radiation applied from an outside source, used where the cancer has spread, or in conjunction with other treatments to ensure that all cancer cells are destroyed.