Prostate cancer is a serious issue that affect hundreds of thousands of men each year.  Prostate testing and screening is an important means of catch this deadly cancer in its early stages.  If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer there are a number of treatment options available.
Watchful Waiting
If PSA screening and testing indicates the presence of a very small or slow-growing cancer then your doctor may recommend passive therapy.  This consists of simply keeping a closer eye on the development of the cancer by repeated testing and observation.  This course of action is especially appropriate for those that are very elderly or who are in very poor health.

Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy uses varying drugs to reduce the amount of testosterone in the body or to block testosterone getting to the cancer cells.  Testosterone can actually work against the body by causing the cancer to grow more quickly.  Hormone therapy can reduce the growth of cancer, but isn’t usually enough to kill the cancer cells.  This treatment is usually used in combination with another treatment to completely remove the cancer.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals that destroy growing cells in the body.  Like hormone therapy it is better suited to controlling cancer growth than in curing it.

EBRT

External Beam Radiation Treatment or EBRT uses high-powered x-rays to destroy cancerous tissue.  EBRT is performed over the course of a couple of months, usually on a near daily basis.  The procedure is painless, causes only minimal side effects and the individual sessions take very little time.

Radioactive Seed Implants

This form of treatment, also called brachytherapy, uses small radioactive pellets that are implanted into the prostate in the area of the cancerous growth.  The pellets emit high dose radiation for a lengthy period of time (usually depleting within a year).  These pellets are surgically implanted with a needle while the patient is unconscious and are not removed after losing their radiation.

Radical Prostatectomy

Radical prostatectomy is the complete surgical removal of the prostate gland.  This can be accomplished either by retropubic surgery (through and incision below the bellybutton) or perineal surgery (through an incision in the perineum).  This type of surgery can have significant effect on bladder control and sexual function.  Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy is a relatively new form of radical prostatectomy that uses remote control robots to perform the procedure in a more sterile and less invasive manner.

Multiple Approaches

Unfortunately, despite the many advances in the treatment of cancer, there still isn’t a miracle cure for prostate cancer or any other type of cancer.  Also, not all instances of cancer will respond the same way to the same treatments.  If, with treatment, your prostate cancer does not show signs of improving or if it seems to be progressing despite the treatment then your doctor may want to try other approaches.  There is no sure-fire way to beat cancer, but the early cancer development is caught and treatment is begun the better the chances of stopping it before it becomes life-threatening.