Prostate cancer affects one out of every six Americans. This cancer is found within the prostate gland, a gland that is part of the male reproductive system. The danger of prostate cancer is the fact that it can spread into other areas of the body if left untreated, which can be fatal.

Prognosis

This common form of male cancer is usually treatable, but treatment starts with an accurate and timely diagnosis. Because prostate cancer often has no symptoms, we here at Advanced Urology of Central Florida promote yearly prostate screenings. All men who are 50 or older need to have a yearly prostate exam. If we can find your cancer early enough, we can likely keep it from spreading to the rest of your body.

Treatment

If your prostate exam indicates that you do have cancer, we will begin treatment as soon as possible. The goal of treatment is to remove or destroy the prostate gland. If the cancer is caught before it spreads, this will remove the cancer from your body. Your medical team will determine what treatments are the best options for your unique cancer case.

We can treat prostate cancer surgically. The surgical removal of the prostate is known as a prostatectomy. In most cases, we will remove the entire gland. Another option for prostate cancer treatment is radiation therapy. This can be in the form of external beam radiation and/or radiation seed implantation.

We also may choose to use hormone therapy to treat your prostate cancer. Prostate cancer cells use testosterone to grow. By reducing the amount of testosterone in a man’s body, the cancer cells can be starved and therefore die. When hormone therapy does not work, chemotherapy is often used to treat the disease.

We also use High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) to treat prostate cancer. This innovative technique is highly effective and helps to eliminate many of the side effects of other treatments, such as impotence and incontinence. To learn more about HIFU, read our HIFU for prostate cancer page.