The prostate cancer is a disease which affects only men and its potential effects could very well endanger their lives.



The cancer is not the only disease affecting the prostate and to reach a correct diagnose, doctors often recommend the screening tests; depending on the results they decide to conduct, or not, further medical investigations.

These screening tests include the digital rectal exam or DRE, when the doctor searches for hardness or lumps on the surface of the prostate gland and the prostate specific antigen blood tests or PSA.



If the test result is considered to be abnormal, a prostate biopsy is needed and is done by withdrawing one or two small pieces of the prostate tissue, using a needle trans-rectally, under the guidance of ultrasound images of the prostate area.

If cancer is diagnosed, a pathologist uses the Gleason scale to classify the stages of the cancer and how far is the tumor spread. There are three ways a cancer can spread: invading the neighboring tissues, spreading through the lymph vessels and lymph nodes or by traveling through the blood to far away tissues.

The doctor’s recommended treatment options are based on this information.

Radiation therapy, a treatment procedure developed in the early twentieth century has the effect of damaging the DNA of a cancerous cell so that is won’t be able to multiply.

In early stages this method consisted of intraprostatic radium implants but once the radiation sources became stronger, external beam procedure soon became the popular choice for radiation therapy.

Now we talk about two radiation therapy procedures, the first being brachytherapy, dating back since 1983.

The brachy part from the brachytherapy word comes from the greek translation of “short” because the radiation therapy is placed at a short distance from the damaged tissue; it is also known as internal beam radiation, the radioactive seeds being directly inserted in the prostate gland through needles thus avoiding the damaging of the surrounding organs or body parts.

The second radiation treatment is the external beam radiation therapy or the EBRT when x-rays with a high energy are directed towards the tumor area. This treatment could be done for about six to eight weeks, depending on its effects.

Radiation therapy could still be regarded as a new method of treating the prostate cancer since not many things are known about it except the fact that it does has an effect in eliminating the cancerous cells.

Studies about comparing the two methods of radiation therapy are still being conducted, so we can not say with certainty which one is better.

We do know that radiation therapy has some side effects like impotence and incontinence, but they are less frequent if we compare this treatment with surgery; also cryotherapy had some less favorable results in treating an advanced form of prostate cancer than radiation therapy.

Either way, before choosing a treatment method stay informed about what changes might occur in the treatment research medical field.