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Advanced HIFU Therapy Offers Hope In Prostate Cancer Treatment
A remarkable medical success has unfolded in Delhi, where a 43-year-old man underwent high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (RGCIRC). Officials announced the successful procedure on Thursday.
The patient's prostate tumour was detected early via MRI screening. Doctors chose to use focal HIFU, which targets only the diseased portion of the prostate, thus sparing healthy tissue. This approach offered a minimally invasive alternative to conventional surgery.
Chief of Genitourinary Oncology at RGCIRC, Sudhir Kumar Rawal, emphasized HIFU's potential in providing effective cancer treatment without compromising patients' quality of life. With prostate cancer rates expected to rise, HIFU presents a promising treatment option, particularly for younger men.
(With inputs from agencies.)
From Curing To Controlling Your Prostate Cancer - WebMD
There isn't one way to control advanced prostate cancer. It depends on a mix of things. That includes your age, symptoms, and how fast your cancer grows. Michael Kahn, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in prostate cancer at Northwestern Medicine, says your quality-of-life goals also matter.
"Is it to get your disease under the best control for as long as you possibly can, come hell or high water?" Kahn asks. "Or is it: I just want to have a life that's as normal as possible."
No matter what, your doctor will partner with you to find the right cancer care plan.
Here are some common treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
Is [the goal of treatment] to get your disease under the best control for as long as you possibly can, come hell or high water? Or is it: I just want to have a life that's as normal as possible.
Michael Kahn, MD, medical oncologist, Northwestern MedicineMichael Leapman, MD, a urologic oncologist with Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, says the mainstay of treatment is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Like the name suggests, these drugs suppress androgens, which are sex hormones such as testosterone.
The goal is to take away the "fuel" that prostate cancer cells need to grow.
You might also get a secondary hormonal therapy.
"There are newer anti-androgen therapies -- things that work in the same way that androgen deprivation works but are more potent -- which are also life-extending," Leapman says.
Hormone suppression can cause some bothersome symptoms, such as hot flashes. Because of that, some people decide to take breaks from therapy.
"What we can do is give them a vacation from it and let their testosterone recover," Leapman says. "This will generally help with side effects."
Doctors call this on-and-off approach intermittent ADT. Some people deal with it better than sustained treatment. And studies show that intermittent ADT "appears to be almost on par with continuous therapy," Leapman says. But we need more research to know for sure.
You might have this along with ADT or another treatment. But you won't have it every day.
"It's an initial course of chemotherapy, so not a continuous thing," Leapman says.
This treatment isn't for everyone with prostate cancer. It uses strong drugs that kill cancer but can hurt healthy tissue, too. It can give you more serious side effects when compared to hormone therapy.
Before starting chemo, Leapman says your doctor should consider:
This treatment uses drugs that attack cancer cells without hurting your healthy cells. Right now, targeted therapy for prostate cancer involves the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. You can get a test to see if you have changes, or mutations, to these genes.
Targeted therapy isn't the right choice for everyone. But it's something you should ask your doctor about. If you have certain gene alterations, "that can change the treatment plan," Leapman says.
Some newer treatments use your body's immune system -- your defense against germs -- to slow or stop cancer cells from growing. Some call one, sipuleucel-T (Provenge), "the cancer vaccine." Leapman says it usually goes to people whose advanced prostate cancer causes few to no symptoms.
There'll probably be more kinds of immunotherapy in the future. Researchers are studying a group of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. These help your immune system find and kill cancer cells. But they haven't gotten approval for prostate cancer yet.
These are studies that test new cancer drugs. Your doctor might suggest one if you've already tried standard therapies or you have certain health problems.
LEARN MORE
To get detailed information about clinical trials, visit cancer.Gov and clinicaltrials.Gov.
"For example, one of the [chemotherapy] drugs used can cause peripheral neuropathy," Kahn says. "If somebody already has an underlying peripheral neuropathy, we want to avoid making that worse for them. For those people, we'll look for a trial."
Kahn says it's important to know you're not a "guinea pig" if you enroll in a clinical trial. Instead, you're helping researchers find better ways to treat cancer.
The first approach is usually to make sure your cancer treatment is working, Leapman says. And if you're taking a break from ADT, and you start to have serious pain, "it's almost always a good idea to restart hormonal therapy," he says.
Commonly, advanced prostate cancer can spread to your bones. If that's the case, your doctor will likely send you to a radiation oncologist "for directed therapies," Kahn says. "Radiation agents go directly to sites of bone metastasis."
Other things that might help you feel better include:
Pain medication. This includes over-the-counter meds like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or stronger prescriptions like opioids.
Surgery. Your doctor will check to see if you have any broken bones that need to be set.
Complementary therapies. "Things like reiki [also called 'hands-on healing'] or acupuncture, I absolutely encourage," Leapman says. "I think there can be a pain and psychological benefit."
Some aches can signal a more serious issue. Call your doctor right away if you have:
These could be signs that your cancer has spread to your spine, a condition called metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC).
It's OK to bring up anything that's on your mind. Maybe you're curious about drug side effects, sexual health treatments, or how to deal with death. Whatever you want to know, make a checklist of things you want to go over.
"Preparation is everything," Leapman says.
Here are some of his tips about what to ask your doctor:
Leapman urges people to bring in an "impartial notetaker." That's a family member or friend who'll jot down details for you. Or you can make an audio or video recording of your visit. Just give your doctor a heads-up.
"The first time someone pulled out the recorder, maybe I was a bit jarred by it," Leapman says. "[But now,] I would encourage it because there's so much information overload."
Unusual Signs Of Prostate Cancer Most Men Overlook
Prostate cancer often develops silently, and many men miss the early warning signs
Prostate cancer is among the most common yet dangerous cancers among men, with an estimated 2.4 million cases by 2040 from across the world. Even though it is usually believed to strike men over 60 years of age, now even those under 40 are being diagnosed. According to experts, most people do not have any idea of what the symptoms of prostate cancer are, and many shrug off unusual warning signs.
And so. It is time to forget the confusion and have a clear sense of what to look out for and what the red flags are that most people often ignore.
What is prostate cancer?
Doctors say prostate cancer develops in your prostate – a small, walnut-shaped gland which is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum in men. This tiny gland secretes fluid that mixes with semen, keeping sperm healthy for conception and pregnancy.
While prostate cancer is a serious disease, it is very common. Data reveal that for every 100 men, 13 would develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives. However, most get diagnosed before it spreads beyond their prostate glands.
Signs and symptoms of prostate cancer
Doctors say that in the very early stages, prostate cancer hardly causes any symptoms. But as it progresses, you may start to notice changes. Sometimes, a few of these signs may also resemble other, less serious issues, but you must talk it out with your doctor. Some signs are:
What causes prostate cancer? While it is not known exactly what causes cells in your prostate to become cancer cells, as with cancer in general, prostate cancer forms when cells divide faster than usual. While normal cells eventually die, cancer cells do not, and instead, they multiply and grow into a tumour.
As the cells continue to multiply, parts of the tumour can break off and spread to other parts of your body. A few risk factors for prostate cancer include:
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