The radiation treatment method, today used for prostate cancer cases, was discovered in the early 20^th century and consisted in intraprostatic radium implants and soon after that, being replaced with the external beam radiation with the purpose of damaging the DNA of the cancer cells to stop their multiplication. Today we know two types of radiation procedures: the external proton beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy or the internal radiation; internal because the radioactive seeds, the size of a rice grain, are inserted into the infected gland and left there until they decay. There are several important differenced between these two methods, one being the potential side-effects. The internal radiation is done by using a needle, thus avoiding the damage of the surrounding healthy tissues but the external radiation must be performed by medical experts because an incorrect radiation dose might affect not only the cancerous cells.

The prostate cancer is a common type of cancer that generally develops after the dangerous age of forty when some men experience the so-called “andropause” or “male menopause”, because of various factors such as age, alimentation, hormonal problems, genetic inheritance and even race.


The aging process can not be prevented and because of it different diseases are often reported, not only cancer; the levels of the male specific hormone, the testosterone, are also influenced by age.

Any hormonal problem will directly affect the general health of a person and in a man’s case, the functions of the prostate gland, located in the reproductive system and responsible with the making of the seminal fluid. The enlargement of the prostate is a symptom often associated with the existence of cancer but this may as well be associated with other prostate diseases or disorders such as the benign prostatic hyperplasia.

A correct treatment therapy can also prevent this progression or delay it, increasing the survival period of time. We know well that the prognosis for the cancer outcome is bases on two main treatment results: the cancer will be treated or even cured or the evolution of the tumor can not be stopped nor delayed. This usually happens when the cancer has already reached an advanced form and depends on the main medical characteristics of that particular patient’s body.

If the prescribed treatment is the right one for that cancer, even though it is very difficult to guess what method of treatment will give the best results because each cancer is unique and evolves in different stages in different periods of time, this disease can even be cured and after fifteen years the survival rates stabilize and the possibility of cancer recurrence decreases at very low levels but not completely.

The early symptoms of a prostate cancer are usually not noticed so the only method to detect a first stage tumor is by doing the screening tests at regular periods of time. The results of the screenings, after taking blood samples to determine the levels of the prostate specific antigen and the digital rectal examination, are to be interpreted by medical specialist who will decide whether the medical investigation should continue or not.

With the prostate biopsy, doctors will determine exactly if the cancer cells exist in the gland or not, and for an accurate diagnose they will also use methods of detection such as the radionuclide bone scans, the prostate mapping, the coaxial tomography or/and the nomogram.


Research studies have concluded that in comparison to prostatectomy, cryotherapy or the androgen deprivation therapy, the radiotherapy treatment for the prostate cancer has less health damaging side-effects, such as temporary incontinence or impotence; in some cases these effect can be permanent.

The spreading process of the cancer cells is a slow one, the malignant tumor doubling its size once every four years and because of it, there is a ninety eight percent chance of surviving for at least five years after the initial diagnose, even if the tumor is already locally advanced.

The prostate cancer radiation therapy is one of those types of treatments recommended only when the cancer becomes locally advanced or metastatic; if the tumor is organ-confined, the best treatment option has to be surgery or prostatectomy, sometimes complemented with the alternative treatment such as the herbal therapy to stop possible life endangering side-effects such as the local bleeding.