Cryotherapy or cryoablation is one type of new prostate cancer treatment defined as the freezing of the prostate gland in order to stop the spreading of the organ-confined tumor and to kill the existing cancerous cells. Unfortunately this treatment method can also damage normal cells and their life-span.

Cryotherapy is a procedure discovered in the late 1960’s, back then being used for treating stomach ulcers; because of the numerous side-effects associated with this treatment procedure, the medical community stopped using it until its reintroduction in 1998.

Research studies about cryotherapy are still being conducted because there are some things unknown about it and no one can quite grasp the full understanding of this treatment capacity.

Cryoablation is done by inserting through a needle a freezing liquid, sometimes argon or liquid nitrogen, directly into the prostate gland; it is a procedure evolving only with the help of ultrasoundimages.

The common side-effects often associated with this treatment method are the blockage of the urethra, fistulas that leak urine, infections. Sometimes it so happens that the freezing doesn’t work so the cancerous cells are not killed in the process of liquid insertion. One Canadian study compared two prostate cancer treatments, the common radiation therapy and cryotherapy; the conclusion was that the last method is less effective when the cancer had already reached an advanced stage.

Another new treatment for the prostate cancer is the androgen deprivation therapy or the hormone therapy. Although is was discovered in 1941 by Charles B. Huggins, after conducting several research studies while using estrogen to oppose the production of testosterone; we still use the word “new” to characterize this treatment procedure because doctors have reached to a better understanding of how it works only in these last decades.

The principle behind this medical operation is the following: it was discovered the fact that the male androgenic hormone, testosterone, causes a rapid growth of cancerous cells in the prostate gland, especially after the age of forty, so by depriving the body of testosterone the multiplication of the malignant cells could be stopped or reduced to a minimum. Doctors use two types of medications: the anti-androgenic drugs, that block the effects of the male hormone on the prostate and the LH-RH agonists, with the property of blocking the LH-RH produced by the body in normal conditions.

The side-effects can be devastating: it was discovered the fact that patients who underwent chemical castration therapy had an increased dying risk of about eighty five per cent higher compared to those not treated and that those who received for at least a year ADT are much more exposed to cardiovascular diseases; the common side-effects are impotence and breast enlargement.

These treatments are often used depending on the stages of the prostate cancer. We know that for each stage, specific treatments are to be used for effectiveness. If the cancer is detected in the early stages it can also be curable but sometimes the spreading process is so complex that physicians find it hard to identify the exact body part where the primary tumor is: in this situation the medical community refers to this disease as cancer of unknown primary; if two or more metastatic tumors are detected in the body we refer to this situation as metastases.

A patient must be aware of the fact that cancer is a treatable disease and sometimes we can dare say, curable, if the minimum five years after treating the cancer have passed without any sign or recurrence; if the cancer is recurrent and comes back as metastases, we refer to this situation as distant recurrence.

Consult with your doctors about every aspect of the new treatment procedures and gather as much information as you can. When deciding for a treatment operation, the physician will also consider important personal preferences of the patient but sometimes only he knows what treatment method should be used for that patient’s particular case.