Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among American men. It currently affects as many as three million men in this country, many of whom are dealing with serious side effects from various forms of prostate cancer treatment.
As the Movember Foundation – which is a global charitable organization that promotes men’s health – points out, prostate cancer that is detected early offers a 98% chance of survival beyond five years. The survival rate beyond five years is only 26% if the disease is found and treated much later.
What Should I Know About Prostate Cancer?
Here are other important facts to know about prostate cancer:
- A man’s risk of developing the disease increases with age, but it can strike at any age among adult males.
- African-American men and men who have a family history of prostate cancer are two and a half times more likely to develop it.
- If you are 50 or over, you should routinely undergo a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test with every medical checkup to help detect the disease, ideally twice a year. If you are African-American or have a family history of prostate cancer, you should request a PSA test starting at age 45.
How Prostate Cancer Affects Your Health
Prostate cancer develops when cells in the prostate gland – which is located between the bladder and the penis, and just in front of the rectum – reproduce far more rapidly than normal, resulting in a tumor. The insidious thing about prostate cancer is that it tends to grow slowly at the start and may not exhibit noticeable symptoms. However, if the cancer goes undetected or left untreated, it can easily spread from the prostate to other parts of your body.
When signs and symptoms of prostate cancer do appear, they may include:
- The frequent urge to urinate, particularly at night
- Having difficulty starting urination or restraining it
- A weak or interrupted flow of urine
- Urination that is painful or burning
- Painful ejaculations
- Pain and/or stiffness in your lower back, hips, or upper thighs
Treatment for Prostate Cancer
There are effective treatments for prostate cancer, but they can often affect your health and lifestyle in unintended ways. For example, traditional radiation treatment can produce a number of unpleasant side effects that include:
- Fatigue
- Sexual dysfunction
- Urinary leakage
- Blood in the urine
- Rectal bleeding
- Painful bowel movements
- Abdominal cramping
- Diarrhea
- Skin reactions
Even worse, healthy tissues or organs surrounding the prostate can be damaged by the powerful radiation beams from traditional radiation.
Preserving Your Health During Prostate Cancer Treatment
Fortunately, men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer can receive effective, nonsurgical treatment without pain or major side effects. This is what CyberKnife® radiation treatment offers.
CyberKnife is a pain-free, noninvasive form of radiosurgery (radiation treatment) that uses advanced imaging and robotic technology to deliver high doses of radiation only to the tumor. That way, surrounding tissues and organs are left unharmed. CyberKnife technology also automatically adjusts its beams to keep its focus on the tumor and thus, destroys only the cancer cells.
Because CyberKnife delivers such a high, concentrated dosage of radiation, whereby the beams all intersect only at the tumor site, you only need five treatment sessions. All of these sessions can be completed in 10 days, as opposed to the ongoing, 45 grueling treatments over several months necessary with traditional radiation therapy.
As a result, you are spared the discomfort and side effects often associated with conventional radiation therapy. Plus, there is no downtime with CyberKnife treatment as there is with prostate cancer surgery, so you can immediately resume your normal activities just as soon as you complete each session.
Prostate Cancer Treatment with Your Overall Health in Mind
A prostate cancer diagnosis doesn’t mean you have to endure months of agonizing treatment – not when CyberKnife radiation treatment can make the experience as relaxing and effective as possible.
To schedule a consultation and learn more about how CyberKnife technology can improve your health, contact the CyberKnife Center of Miami today at (800) 204-0455 or (305) 279-2900, or you can use our online contact form to have us call you. We look forward to seeing you and you can also learn more on our website www.prostatecancertreatmentmiami.com