What is the treatment?

The type of treatment is based on the age of the patient, his physical state of health and the condition of the disease, among other factors.

Surgery

The most frequent surgical procedure in the treatment of prostate cancer is radical prostatectomy. This is an operation in which the prostate is completely removed, as well as the surrounding tissue. In recent years, this operation has been performed by laparoscopic surgery, a scarcely invasive technique that obviates the need for large incisions.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy mainly employs very high energy ionizing radiation to destroy tumorous cells, preventing them from dividing. All cells grow and divide, but tumorous cells do so far more rapidly. Radiotherapy destroys the cell and prevents it from dividing. Some normal cells may be affected by radiation, but the majority recover, since healthy cells are equipped with self-repairing mechanisms.

In prostate cancer and other tumours, it has been demonstrated that the greater the radiation the better the chances of cure and recovery. Thus reduction of unnecessary healthy tissue exposure to radiation is a prime objective in any treatment employing radiotherapy. Toxicity in prostate tumours can be considerably reduced by using high-precision radiotherapy techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

The Centro Médico Teknon is a pioneer in the application of intensity-modulated radiotherapy. This has been regularly peformed for several years with the Shaped beam radiosurgery Novalis / Radiotherapy Unit, with great experience and excellent results.

Chemotherapy

Different types of medicines are administered to destroy cancerous cells. Chemotherapy is employed in prostate cancer when the tumour has spread and fails to respond to hormone treatment.