Treatment for prostate cancer has involved radiation therapy since 1915. At that time the results were not very satisfactory as the radiation beams did not penetrate deeply to irradiate the cancerous tumors and resulted in skin cancer and morbidity. However by the 1980s equipment like the linear accelerator was used by oncologists. This helped to aim at the targeted area better and increased the speed of the high energy particles being delivered.
Treatment for this type of cancer with radiation has three categories that depend on the type of high energy particles delivered.
• 3D-CRT (3 Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy) that uses subatomic electrons to aim high energy particles/waves of photon radiation
• Neutron Beam Therapy that uses neutrons
• Proton Beam Therapy that uses protons.
Fractionated radiation treatment
This external beam radiation delivers small doses of radiation to the targeted area of the patient over a period of 9 weeks or so, depending on the case. The prostate cells that are normal and healthy can easily recover from these small doses of radiation whereas the cancerous ones do not recover.
All patients with this type of cancer who wish to undergo external radiation treatment should have the following:
• 6 or lower Gleason score
• 10 or lower PSA level
• Contained or localized cancer in the prostate gland
• No abdominal scar tissue on account of previous surgery
Other forms of EBRT
3D-CRt (3 Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy) and IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) are the newer forms of external beam radiation therapy used as treatment for prostate cancer. These work by delivering high energy particles at targeted areas of cancerous tumors and tissues. This type of treatment for prostate cancer is non invasive and an ideal choice for those patients who do not want to undergo invasive treatment for prostate cancer or surgery.
PSA level of 10 or lower and Gleason score of 6 or lower means that the cancer is contained in the prostate gland itself and has not yet spread to the surrounding tissues or organs. Treatment for prostate cancer like IMRT and 3D-CRT are good as they destroy the cancer in the prostate gland while leaving the tissues and organs that surround it almost untouched and unaffected. If the cancer has already spread then the risks to the surrounding area is greater.
If the patient has scar tissues in the region of the abdomen due to surgeries that were performed earlier, the colon and intestines can get exposed to extra radiation. All patients that have already undergone radiation treatment for prostate cancer cannot receive it again.
Salvage treatment for prostate cancer
This type of treatment involves brachytherapy. However radiotherapy cannot be used as a salvage treatment for this particular type of cancer if the brachytherapy was not successful, as the prostate gland was already treated with high doses of radiation. Patients who have benign prostatic hyperplasia should consider radiotherapy as a treatment.
Cryotherapy is a treatment for prostate cancer that is also recommended as a salvage treatment if radiotherapy has not been very successful. The procedure of cryotherapy involves the freezing of the cancer cells in the prostate gland in order to destroy them.
|
Go to Treatment for Prostate Cancer to get free information on this product. This website will give you all of the information you need on this topic along with a lot of other free information. Don’t miss out on this new website if you are looking for more information. Find us at http://treatmentforprostatecancer.org/blog/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Millbank |
