Treating Prostate Cancer with Hormone Therapy
Prostate Cancer Videos
The Gleason Grading System is used to assess the aggressiveness of prostate cancer. Learn how the Gleason score is calculated and what it means.
Learn about the alternatives to general anaesthetic when undergoing prostate surgery. Could a spinal anaesthetic or a nerve block be the right choice for your prostate operation?
Find out when chemotherapy is used to treat prostate cancer, what to expect and the benefits in this short film.
Do you need surgery to treat your prostate cancer? Find out the advantages to keyhole surgery in this short film.
Treating prostate cancer with hormone therapy can be very effective. Click here to learn how hormone therapies can help your prostate cancer.
Treatment for prostate cancer in older men can involve nothing more than watchful waiting or active surveillance. Could this be the best treatment for you?
New treatments for prostate cancer are currently being trialed to treat patients with localised prostate cancer. Could they help you too?
There are many options for prostate cancer surgery. How does your doctor choose which one is right for you?
There are a variety of surgeries used to treat and remove prostate cancer. Find out which surgery for prostate cancer is right for you.
Radiotherapy can kill prostate cancer cells without the need for complicated surgeries. Learn more about radiation therapy, its advantages and side effects, here.
Are you having keyhole surgery to treat your prostate cancer? Find out about new advancements in this short film.
In this video, leading urologist Mr Christopher Eden discusses the advantages and effects of treating prostate cancer with surgery.
When is hormone treatment used to treat prostate cancer?
Treating prostate cancer with hormone therapy is a very common. In most circumstances it is used to slow the progression of advanced prostate cancer and reduce the discomfort of the prostate cancer symptoms for a patient. Hormonal therapy is rarely used to treat localised, or locally advanced prostate cancer, where surgery or radiotherapy can offer a possible cure. Hormone therapy is often used with radiotherapy to increase the effectiveness of the radiotherapy at destroying the cancer cells.
How do hormonal treatments help treat prostate cancer?
Hormonal manipulation works by altering the production of, or effect of, testosterone on prostate cancer cells. Altering testosterone levels controls the growth of cells in the prostate, both cancerous and normal, as cancer cells need testosterone to grow1.
Unlike surgery and radiotherapy, hormone treatment does not cure prostate cancer. Hormone treatment can manage the progression of prostate cancer for a period of time before additional methods of treating the cancer will be necessary. On average, hormone therapy is effective at managing prostate cancer for three years. After this time, the prostate cancer cells become resistant to the effects of hormonal manipulation.
Hormone therapy can be delivered in a tablet form, called anti-androgen treatment, or by an injection given either monthly or once every three months, called luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists. In some circumstances, both tablets and injections are given together1.
Side effects of hormone treatment for prostate cancer?
The downside to hormonal therapy is the number of side effects associated with it; this is due to the changes in testosterone levels in the body1. These include:
- Breast swelling or tenderness
- Decreased libido
- Impotence
- Weight gain
- Tiredness1
- Hot flushes1
- Increased risk of heart attack and stroke
Mr Christopher Eden
Consultant Urologist
Reference:
1. NHS Choices – Prostate cancer treatment. Date last updated: 14.02.2011. Website:
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-prostate/Pages/Treatment.aspx
10516 Revised November 2012
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