When you get diagnosed with prostate cancer or someone you know and love is diagnosed, you likely find yourself unsure of what you can do to deal with this troubling form of cancer. Luckily, there are a variety of prostate cancer treatment options that you can utilize to overcome prostate cancer and get feeling healthy once again. All you need to do is get to know some of these options and get in contact with your oncologist as soon as possible to get started on your treatments. 

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is one of the most well-known standard cancer treatments. This form of cancer treatment focuses radioactive energy at cancer cells either through internally implanted cells (or capsules) or through the use of an external machine that sends the radiation into the area affected by cancer cells.

Advances in radiation therapy technologies have made such treatments even more accurate and precise. 3D-CRT as well as IMRT are forms of radiation therapy that use 3-D renderings of the prostate and surrounding tissues that help to make the radiation therapy more targeted, sparing the non-cancerous cells as much as possible though treatment. This means that the malignant cells receive targeted radiation and healthy cells are largely left unaffected.  

Vaccines

Many people do not realize that not all vaccines are used to prevent viruses. They can also be used as treatments for other diseases and conditions. In the case of prostate cancer, a vaccine is currently being tested in clinical trials for a vaccine that contains PSA (prostate-specific antigen). 

If you do not know this yet, prostate cancer cells contain PSA (PSA levels are measured as a part of the diagnosis of prostate cancer as well as in post-treatment checks for relapse). When a person is administered a vaccine with a virus that contains PSA, this trains the person's immune system to attack PSA in the body as a dangerous substance.

Thus, the vaccine teaches the immune system to fight and attack cancer cells on its own. While this treatment is still in the clinical trial phases, the possibilities of such immunotherapies being widely available in the future is promising. 

While being diagnosed with prostate cancer may be scary, there are a myriad of treatment options available to you. In addition to radiation and vaccines (immunotherapy), there are various other treatments available, including chemotherapy and hormone therapy. So, when you are ready, get in contact with your oncologist and get started with your treatment as soon as possible. 

To learn more about prostate cancer treatment, contact a group like Unity Urology PC.

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