Prostate Cancer Treatment on the Gulf Coast

Prostate cancer affects one in seven men in the United States. This means that over 180,000 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone. Affecting the male prostate, prostate cancer occurs when growth affects prostate function. Infirmary Cancer Care can provide quality prostate cancer treatments to men in the Mobile area. Whether an advanced or early-stage cancer, we have the experts and state-of-the-art facilities necessary to provide you the most advanced prostate cancer care possible. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you beat prostate cancer.

Symptoms & Risks

Prostate cancer affects the male prostate. The male prostate is a small gland surrounding the base of the man’s urethra that produces the seminal fluid necessary to transport sperm from outside of the body. When the prostate becomes cancerous, it can affect this process and cause urination problems, erectile dysfunction and blood in the urine or semen. However, most individuals do not have symptoms of this type of cancer until it is advanced because of the slow-growing nature of the disease. Men at the greatest risk for developing prostate cancer include African American men older than 50. However, there seem to be no certain risk factors for this disease. If you or a family member has a history of prostate cancer, you should get screened regularly.

Diagnosis & Staging

Doctors will usually use a combination of a digital rectal exam (DRE) and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level test to screen for cancer and determine how advanced the cancer is. Men with a higher PSA have a much higher likelihood of having cancer. Men with a PSA between four and 10 have about a 25% chance they developed prostate cancer while those with above a PSA of 10 have a 50% and above chance of having developed the disease. At other times, urologists will perform a prostate biopsy to check for cancer. In some situations, other tests may be ordered to determine the extent of cancer. These include:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan to analyze the prostate
Computed tomography (CT) scan to see the extent of the cancer growth
Bone scan to judge whether cancer has spread to the bones
Lymph node biopsy to check for cancerous lymph nodes

Treatment Options

The treatment options for prostate cancer include surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiation and even clinical trials. Prostate cancer is one of the easiest to treat and has a very high remission rate. Your treatment at Infirmary Cancer Care will vary depending on your current health and how advanced your physician deems the cancer to be.

Surgery is designed to remove cancer and, while it may impact urinary function, should have very little impact on sexual function. Chemotherapy can be given to kill the cancer cells and treatment length can depend upon the advanced nature of the cancer. Radiation can also be used to kill cancer cells. Doctors can often perform radiation through brachytherapy which involves the implantation of radiation pellets near the tumor so just the area around the tumor is affected.

Finally, men with prostate cancer can also undergo hormone therapy which is designed to slow and manage the growth of cancer. Through androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), testosterone is blocked from being released and the cancer’s growth is slowed. This type of treatment is usually reserved for men with advanced-stage prostate cancer. But whatever stage your prostate cancer is, Infirmary Cancer Care’s treatment team can help formulate the treatment plan that can help you heal.