Prostate Cancer Treatment Options With High Grade PIN

Prostate Cancer Treatment Options Improve Survival Rates

As treatment options improve, the survival rates for prostate cancer also improve. This is true for all stages except distant stage (metastasized) prostate cancer (National Cancer Institute Prostate Cancer Trends).

When prostate cancer is detected at the earliest stages, patients have the greatest chance for high survival rates.

One of the best tests for early detection is a biopsy for PIN or prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. PIN is generally considered the first detectable form of precancerous cells in the prostate, and can lead to adenocarcinoma. This test is independent from a PSA screening of the blood.

The PIN biopsy removes cells from different areas of the prostate and examines them for areas of increased cells or cellular proliferation that resemble cancer, and "architectural" patterns like tufting, neuroendocrine and mucinous patterns. HGPIN spreads slowly through the prostatic ducts similar to the development of prostatic cancer.

If the biopsy results are high grade PIN or HGPIN, it is considered one of the most reliable predictors of prostate cancer at this time.

What Are The Prostate Cancer Treatment Options With High Grade PIN?

Most researchers recommend follow-up biopsies at three to six month intervals for several years, then every year for life. Additional treatment is based on gathering information about the patient's individual risk. Many therapies are being tested, including preventive androgen therapy. Most invasive therapies like surgery and radiation are not considered unless there are rapid changes in the PIN biopsies.

Early detection of prostate cancer has the added advantage of opening the door for chemoprevention as one prostate cancer treatment option. Chemoprevention involves changes in the patient's lifestyle to avoid or postpone the progress of cancer.
One study using green tea extract found 90% prevention of prostate cancer in patients with HGPIN after one year of treatment. Drug studies have found 20-25% prevention of prostate cancer during five-year studies.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men after skin cancer. It is diagnosed in approximately 220,000 new patients and kills almost 30,000 each year in the United States alone. African-American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world, running 60% higher than other American men (American Cancer Society, SEER National Cancer Institute).

Prostate cancer has been detected in men as young as 20 years old and by age 80 at least 80% of men have this cancer. Because it can take decades to proliferate, considering chemoprevention as part of a patient's prostate cancer treatment options offers more pro-active and positive pathways to health.

Men should consult with their primary health care provider for their best prostate cancer treatment options and early detection procedures.

You can find more information on green tea and drug studies on prostate cancer prevention at http://www.green-tea-health-news.com/prostate-cancer-prevention.html
Sharon Jones has over 40 years training and experience in science, mainstream health care, and alternative health care. Her website is http://www.green-tea-health-news.com/

Explore Your Treatment Options For Prostate Cancer

The greatest fear facing today's man is out of prostate cancer. Often equated with a near certain death sentence hearing the news that a man has prostate cancer will put a dark cloud over his future.

Like menopause in women, prostate cancer is something that men dread. It is often seen as being an inevitable part of aging. Of course, some men are more susceptible to prostate cancer than others, and even if a man has prostate cancer there are prostate cancer treatment options available that will significantly improve the quality of their life, if not completely eradicate the prostate cancer.

These are some of the more widely known prostate cancer treatment options.

Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Traditionally this operation therapy has been used as a prostate cancer treatment option through the use a surgical procedure known as soon orchidectomy. This surgical procedure is wildly unpopular in men, however has now been replaced by a hormone drug treatment.

This drug controls the production and release of testosterone or prevents testosterone from being made into the metabolite dihydrotestosterone. These are cancer or stimulating hormones, as such it is important to tightly control their production. Because it is a minimally invasive treatment, it is one of the more popular prostate cancer treatment options.

Cryotherapy

Originally cryotherapy was not very popular among the possible prostate cancer treatment options. However nowadays it is seeing a comeback in popularity due to it being viewed as an efficient way to treat prostate cancer. When using cryotherapy liquid argon is administered to the affected areas. This extremely cool liquid destroys the cancer cells without damaging surrounding tissues.

Cryotherapy is very a minimally invasive compared to other prostate cancer treatment options, and thus has relatively few side effects. Unfortunately the possible side effects include prostate health problems, and sexual dysfunction.

Radical Prostatectomy

Radical prostatectomy’s have the highest success rate among all prostate cancer treatment options, due to the fact that it calls for the complete removal of the prostate. This is a very direct approach, however the side effects are more than slightly severe. Impotence is nearly guaranteed, and incontinence is also a very realistic outcome. Because of this radical prostatectomy's are not popular among possible prostate cancer treatment options, and usually only seen as a last resort.

Radiation Treatment

Traditionally radiation therapy or who was one of the most popular prostate cancer treatment options available. However nowadays with the advent of the newer more advanced prostate cancer treatment options radiation treatment has fallen out of popularity. Radiation treatments fall from fame is due to its high rate of side effects, and low rate of success. An unfortunate caveat with radiation treatment, is that if it is not effective the first go around the patient is not able to go through another round of radiation treatment due to the side effects associated with high radiation dosage levels. This leaves the patient having to use another prostate cancer treatment option.

Choosing the best course of action amongst all the different prostate cancer treatment options can be difficult, and should definitely be done with the help of a physician. In fact it is advisable to get a second opinion just to get as many different references as possible. The most important thing to remember however is that prostate cancer is no longer a death sentence, but rather something that can be managed and treated with a plethora of different prostate cancer treatment options.
You can also find more info on Prostate Exam and Laser Prostate Treatment . Prostatecancertreatmenthelp.com is a comprehensive resource to know more about prostate cancer treatment.

Is Radiation Therapy For Prostate Cancer Your Best Option?

The answer to that question is, it depends. Radiation therapy for prostate cancer is definitely a good option, and for some men it is the best option. But it depends.

In a 50-year old man radiation therapy is the best option. In an 80-year old man, it probably isn’t.

Younger men benefit more from radiation therapy for prostate cancer than older men do. Radiation therapy with pellets has the same results as external radiation therapy, and is an excellent option for younger men. The failure rate of radiation therapy for prostate cancer is low when the cancer is diagnosed early, and therapy doesn’t cause a significant interruption in his normal routine. He is usually able to return to work within a few days.

The only chemo available to treat prostate cancer right now is hormone injections that stop testosterone production. Few young men are ready to give up their testosterone if it isn’t absolutely necessary.

The most troubling side effects of prostate cancer treatment are incontinence and impotence. Either can occur with either surgical or radiation treatment for prostate cancer. As long as the cancer hasn’t spread, and it is localized in the prostate, radiation therapy for prostate cancer—especially brachytherapy—is the best option for younger men.

It’s different with older men, though. Most prostate cancer is slow-growing, especially in older men. The cost of treatment, in pain and complications, is higher than the cost of living with cancer. In most older men, the best treatment is “watchful waiting.”

NOTE: This article only reflects the opinion of the writer. It is not intended to be used as medical advice. Your doctor is the best person to help you decide what treatment is best for you. You should always check with him or her about treatment options.

Dean Iggo is the webmaster of a website on prostrate cancer providing prostate cancer symptoms advice for everything from an enlarged prostate to prostate cancer.

Tags: prostate, cancer, health, radiation, therapy, men, men health

Prostate Cancer Treatment Options - 4 Options for Cancer Patients

It's difficult to refer to anything cancer-related as a "good thing," but one of the relatively good things about prostate cancer is that there are a number of ways to treat it.

If you have prostate cancer, you should understand the different types of prostate cancer treatment and speak to your physician about each option. As with many other types of cancer, doctors often disagree the best treatment option for patients with prostate cancer. The number of treatment options will also vary depending on how advanced/widespread the cancer is in a particular patient.

So again, the best you can do is educate yourself about the various prostate cancer treatment options and seek opinions from more than one specialist in the field.

With that being said, here are some of the most common treatments for prostate cancer.

Treatment Option #1 - Prostate Surgery

Surgery is possibly the most common form of prostate cancer treatment. The goal of such surgery is to remove the entire prostate from the body, thus removing the cancer along with it. But while the goal of prostate surgery is almost always the same, the method of surgery varies.

Current technology enables doctors to perform robotic surgery for prostate removal, which can minimize hospital time and expedite recovery. Robotic prostate surgery, as it is known, uses minimally invasive laparoscopic techniques.

Treatment Option #2 - Radiation Therapy

Current research shows that surgery and radiation therapy have similar success rates, though the two prostate cancer treatments have different side effects.
With radiation therapy, high-energy rays (similar to x-rays) are used to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors within the prostate. The main types of radiation therapy for prostate cancer are (1) external beam radiation and (2) brachytherapy, or internal radiation. Though both options have decent success rates, there is more data and information about external beam radiation -- at least at the time of this writing (August 2007).

Treatment Option #3 - Hormonal Therapy

Hormone therapy, also known as androgen deprivation therapy, is another prostate cancer treatment option.

With hormone therapy, reduce the level of male hormones (androgens) in the body. Androgens such as testosterone are produced in testicles and have been shown to stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. Therefore, by lowering androgen levels within the body, doctors can also slow the growth of cancer shells, or even shrink them.

Side note: In a related article on this website, we discuss the possible causes of prostate cancer, and under the dietary section there is a similar mention this link between testosterone and prostate cancer growth.

Currently, doctors disagree on several aspects of hormone therapy as a prostate cancer treatment. The most common points of dispute are the best time to start such therapy, the best time to stop the therapy, and the method of administering the therapy.

Treatment Option #4 - Chemotherapy

Most people are familiar with chemotherapy as a general treatment for most cancers. Chemotherapy is also another form of prostate cancer treatment as well.

With chemotherapy, anti-cancer drugs are introduced into the body. Because of the many different ways to administer these drugs, there are certain oncologists (cancer doctors) who specialize in the proper administration of chemotherapy.

As a treatment for prostate cancer, chemotherapy is usually reserved for advanced cases wherein the cancer cells are not responding to other forms of cancer treatment. One of the most important things to realize about chemotherapy is that the drugs are very strong. Thus, they can make a patient very sick even while reducing or eliminating cancer. Chemo can attack and kill cancer cells, but it can also damage healthy cells as well.

Side effects of chemotherapy depend on the types of drugs used, the dosage and the length of time they are taken. But in general, side effects of chemotherapy include the following:

* hair loss
* loss of appetite
* mouth sores
* nausea and vomiting
* lower resistance to infection (low white blood cell counts)
* easy bruising or bleeding (low blood platelets)
* general tiredness or fatigue (low red blood cells)

Conclusion

When considering your treatment options for prostate cancer, it's important to get multiple opinions from cancer specialists and to educate yourself as much as possible. This article is just an overview of prostate cancer treatment options, therefore we highly recommend you seek other sources of knowledge before making a decision about treatment.

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Brandon Cornett is the publisher of Prostate Surgery Center, an unbiased guide to prostate cancer and the surgeries associated with it. Learn more by visiting http://www.prostatesurgerycenter.com/

Understanding 5 Popular Prostate Cancer Treatment Options

The best course of action to take with respect to prostate cancer treatment options depends upon your immediate state of health. There are several factors to take into consideration, such as your general state of health, your age, the amount of cancer cells present, the stage of cancer, as well as any preferences you may have.

When detected in its early stages, prostate cancer is treated rather easily and your chances of survival are extremely high. The slow development of the disease allows many patients the time to fully understand the many different kinds of prostate cancer treatment options before making a choice.

There are three main paths to curing prostate cancer. Some simple definitions of these paths are included below.

Observation

Nicknamed "watchful waiting," this approach consists of regular tests and checkups in order to monitor the cancer when detected in the early stages. This treatment is usually chosen by men in their 70s and 80s, since they often prefer avoiding the side effects that accompany surgery and radiation treatments.

Surgery

The surgery that removes the prostate gland and the cancer is called a prostatectomy. Some lymph nodes may be removed during this procedure as well. In order to avoid damaging any nerves that help you achieve an erection, be sure to work with a surgeon who is experienced with this kind of procedure.

Radiation

Radiation treatment uses strong rays of energy to kill any cancerous cells. Although the treatment itself may only last for a minute or two, you will usually need to receive five treatments per week for around four to eight weeks. Radiation is administered both internally and externally. For external radiation therapy, a large radiation machine is used. Internal treatment occurs by injecting radioactive seeds with a needle into the prostate. Be aware that radiation treatment also runs the risk of nerve damage.

Additional Treatment Methods

On some cancer patients in the early stage, the prostate gland is subjected to a freezing process that kills any cancerous cells. This option, called cryosurgery, uses probes that are inserted into the prostate gland. The probes contain a very cold gas that freezes any damaged tissue. Cryosurgery can be rather convenient as it can be administered on an outpatient basis. However, only a very few number of people have undergone this treatment, so it is too early to determine how effective it truly is.

Ongoing Treatment

Even after you finish with a treatment option, you should still continue to observed by your physician. Get checkups regularly, which will include detailed follow ups on the status of your cancer. You should expect PSA tests, biopsies, urinalyses, and physical exams.

To calm any fear or anxiety you may have as a result of prostate cancer diagnosis, be sure to research all the different treatment options available to you, along with any potential side effects. Some people find radiation to be too rough on the body, and others may choose surgery over chemical treatments. In the end, the best treatment option is one that matches your personal preferences and current state of health, and is well planned out.

Are you looking for information about prostate cancer treatment options? For more important information on prostate cancer, the prostate gland, and prostate cancer treatments and prevention, please visit http://www.onlineprostatehealth.com/ for more information.