Patients who suffer from prostate cancer have many alternatives to treat their affection but they should know all the opinions and investigate therapies before they choose the treatment that suits them. First of all, a person who suffer from prostate cancer should ask for a second opinion, inform himself from books or internet about his condition and also take along detailed list of questions and record the answers. Moreover, the patient shoud be aware of the doctor's experience in treating prostate cancer and also that the doctors in charge should treat the whole patient, not just the prostate and not in the last place the family or a friend support may help a lot.
Furthermore, choosing a treatment for prostate cancer can be a hard task for the patient and for the doctors as well. The treatments are divided in certain groups and each procedure is performed by a specialist. For instance, radiation oncologists in radiation, urologists usually specialize in surgery and cryoablation, both internal and external and usually used alone or in combination. Each type of treatment seem to bring successfully results, including no immediate treatment other than careful observation for elder men.
On the other hand, these types of treatments like surgery, cryoablation and radiation can have side effects, such as impotence and incontinence. Moreover, other side effects are loss of the sex drive, weight gain and also by performing hormonal therapy, the amount of testosterone in the bloodstream is reduced and thereby deprives a prostate tumor of a necessary stimulus, used to extend life and delay the disease to progress.
Moreover, many clinical trials are testing new treatments for prostate cancer and patients can choose the right treatment depending on the type of cancer that they have. So, some of the experimental treatments which seem to be quite effective are: chemotherapy which uses new drugs in order to help men with advanced prostate cancer, immunotherapy which helps the body to fight against cancer and also neoadjuvant hormonal therapy that has the role in reducing the prostate tumor in order to increase success rates of surgery or radiation.
All in all, people who suffer from prostate should weight carefully the options and choose the right procedure in a short time. Moreover, immunotherapies may help men with late-stage cancer and also some of these therapies can be used to prevent recurrence of cancer following surgery or radiation.
New Solutions in Fighting Advanced Prostate Cancer
Scientists have been trying to find a cure for advanced prostate cancer or at least a solution for delaying the disease’s effects. So, they have created a vaccine that seems to improve the immune response to fight prostate cancer. The vaccine is still under clinical trials to test its complete efficiency, to adjust doses and to see if it works on less advanced prostate cancer.
Eric J. Small, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and urology, along with other 19 US institutions conducted the study which was funded by the Dendreon Corporation (the developer of the vaccine) based in Seattle, Washington. They tested 31 patients who were suffering of asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) and had only one year left to live. The study was designed for observing if the disease progression will be delayed and patients will survive longer. In July1, 2006 the Journal of Clinical Oncology published the first conclusions of this research.
After two months of treatment with Provenge, 20 of the patients developed a responsive immunity against a protein situated on the surface of prostate cells (prostatic acid phosphatase). In these patients, the disease progressed after 34 weeks, but in the case of the other 11 patients the disease progressed after 13 weeks.
The vaccine was well tolerated by patients and the side effects were mild: fever and chills. Five of the subjects declared they had mild urinary problems. This is good news because chemotherapy gives a lot of unbearable side effects.
The vaccine has been made out of a genetically engineered protein and a dendritic cell provided from the patient’s bloodstream.
T.J. Koerner, PhD, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society (ACS)said that the vaccine needs to be still under trials because doses need to be adjusted and drug combination must be tried. Also, the scientists want to see if this vaccine will work on less advanced prostate cancer. Most of the patients can follow a treatment based on surgery, radiation and hormone therapy, but asymptomatic metastatic HRPC is known to be resistant to hormone therapy and every year more than 30,000 men die because and no other treatment is effective against the disease, this is why a treatment is urgently required.
Furthermore, choosing a treatment for prostate cancer can be a hard task for the patient and for the doctors as well. The treatments are divided in certain groups and each procedure is performed by a specialist. For instance, radiation oncologists in radiation, urologists usually specialize in surgery and cryoablation, both internal and external and usually used alone or in combination. Each type of treatment seem to bring successfully results, including no immediate treatment other than careful observation for elder men.
On the other hand, these types of treatments like surgery, cryoablation and radiation can have side effects, such as impotence and incontinence. Moreover, other side effects are loss of the sex drive, weight gain and also by performing hormonal therapy, the amount of testosterone in the bloodstream is reduced and thereby deprives a prostate tumor of a necessary stimulus, used to extend life and delay the disease to progress.
Moreover, many clinical trials are testing new treatments for prostate cancer and patients can choose the right treatment depending on the type of cancer that they have. So, some of the experimental treatments which seem to be quite effective are: chemotherapy which uses new drugs in order to help men with advanced prostate cancer, immunotherapy which helps the body to fight against cancer and also neoadjuvant hormonal therapy that has the role in reducing the prostate tumor in order to increase success rates of surgery or radiation.
All in all, people who suffer from prostate should weight carefully the options and choose the right procedure in a short time. Moreover, immunotherapies may help men with late-stage cancer and also some of these therapies can be used to prevent recurrence of cancer following surgery or radiation.
New Solutions in Fighting Advanced Prostate Cancer
Scientists have been trying to find a cure for advanced prostate cancer or at least a solution for delaying the disease’s effects. So, they have created a vaccine that seems to improve the immune response to fight prostate cancer. The vaccine is still under clinical trials to test its complete efficiency, to adjust doses and to see if it works on less advanced prostate cancer.
Eric J. Small, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and urology, along with other 19 US institutions conducted the study which was funded by the Dendreon Corporation (the developer of the vaccine) based in Seattle, Washington. They tested 31 patients who were suffering of asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) and had only one year left to live. The study was designed for observing if the disease progression will be delayed and patients will survive longer. In July1, 2006 the Journal of Clinical Oncology published the first conclusions of this research.
After two months of treatment with Provenge, 20 of the patients developed a responsive immunity against a protein situated on the surface of prostate cells (prostatic acid phosphatase). In these patients, the disease progressed after 34 weeks, but in the case of the other 11 patients the disease progressed after 13 weeks.
The vaccine was well tolerated by patients and the side effects were mild: fever and chills. Five of the subjects declared they had mild urinary problems. This is good news because chemotherapy gives a lot of unbearable side effects.
The vaccine has been made out of a genetically engineered protein and a dendritic cell provided from the patient’s bloodstream.
T.J. Koerner, PhD, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society (ACS)said that the vaccine needs to be still under trials because doses need to be adjusted and drug combination must be tried. Also, the scientists want to see if this vaccine will work on less advanced prostate cancer. Most of the patients can follow a treatment based on surgery, radiation and hormone therapy, but asymptomatic metastatic HRPC is known to be resistant to hormone therapy and every year more than 30,000 men die because and no other treatment is effective against the disease, this is why a treatment is urgently required.
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