Prostate Cancer Radiation Treatment
Posted by Owen Jones in Uncategorized, tags: cancer, disease, elderly care, family, fitness, health, illness, medicine, men's issues, other, prostate cancer, surgery, therapy, Uncategorized, unclassifiedExternal beam radiation therapy or radiotherapy is not new. Electron beam radiotherapy was initially tested in 1915. This beam, the one used in X-Rays was not effective because it caused almost as much harm as it did good.
Proton beam radiotherapy was first suggested in 1946 and was carried out from 1954. This was much more successful because it is possible to retain more control over the point of impact of the beam. This creates less collateral harm to the adjacent healthy \cells.
Apart from these technologies there are also other external beams like the neutron beam and the 3D-CRT beam. There are also other more investigational beams and what is known as seed radiation too.
Except for seed radiation, there is no invasive surgery needed with external beam radiation therapy, there is very little collateral damage and virtually no side effect, so you would suppose that this is the best prostate cancer therapy to go for.
However, this is not always true, because there are so many other factors that have to be taken into account. These factors, such as the phase of the cancer, the general health of the patient and the patient’s point of view make the assessment a complicated one.
Consequently, if you have queries that have been raised from reading this short piece, please take them up with your GP or healthcare provider.
Prostate cancer is like a heavy truck, it can move quickly, but it takes a long time to attain this speed. If you have caught the cancer early, perhaps, in stage one, your GP might make a decision to ‘wait and see’.
This can be unnerving for the patient, but it is a sincere tactic, because not all growths are cancerous and the prostate enlarges with age anyway. It is better for the physician to carry out a number of tests and ‘watchful waiting’ to have irrefutable evidence what the growth is.
The first test will be a rectal examination with a finger (DRE), the GP may then check your PSA count. PSA stands for ‘prostate specific antigen’, This antigen is produced by the prostate and some of it flows into the blood.
A small amount is normal, higher amounts might indicate a difficulty and its severity. Age is a factor, but if the degree reaches 10, then more check ups have to be carried out and they might require a biopsy of the prostate to carry them out.
When the GP is certain that you have cancer, then radiation therapy is merely one of the choices you have and although you might prefer the sound of it, it might not be the most suitable treatment in your case.
Radiation therapy is very local in its effect, so if your cancer has not spread, radiation treatment can be used to pick off isolated specks of growth. However, if it has gone further than that, it is likely that a different treatment will be chosen
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with the proton prostate cancer treatment. If you want to know more go to What is the Treatment for Prostate Cancer?
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