Briefly describe 5 treatments for prostate cancer

With the improvement of medical level, the treatment methods for prostate cancer have also increased. In addition to traditional Chinese medicine treatment, there are mainly 5 treatment methods:

Surgery

Surgery is the preferred method for treating prostate cancer, but because prostate cancer is discovered late, the best time for surgical treatment is often missed. In addition, most prostate cancer patients are elderly, and surgery causes greater damage, so the indications and contraindications should be strictly controlled.

Radiation therapy

Radiotherapy is an effective method for treating prostate cancer. It can significantly reduce the size of the tumor and is mainly used for patients whose tumors are difficult to remove surgically, cannot be removed, or have not yet metastasized. It is applicable to all stages of cancer and is divided into whole-body radiotherapy, internal irradiation therapy, external irradiation therapy and other methods. The commonly used method in clinical practice is external irradiation.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is generally used as an adjuvant treatment in the late stage to eliminate potential, undetectable small lesions. Therefore, the suitable population is mainly patients whose local tumors have been eliminated after surgery or radiotherapy.

Endocrine therapy

Endocrine therapy is also called hormone therapy because prostate cancer is typically hormone-dependent. When androgens decrease, it can cause prostate epithelial atrophy and corresponding cancer cells will also change. Therefore, the core of endocrine therapy is anti-androgen therapy.

Cryotherapy

The method is to bring the freezing probe into contact with the tumor and seminal vesicle after surgery, so that the local temperature of the prostate reaches about -180℃, causing necrosis and shedding of the glandular tissue, thereby destroying the tumor tissue. The mortality and complication rates are reduced after cryotherapy. It is generally suitable for elderly and frail prostate cancer patients with cardiopulmonary damage who are not suitable for open surgery.