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Post Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer

John Han-Chih Chang, MD and Kenneth Blank, MD
Ultima Vez Modificado: 1 de noviembre del 2001

Dear OncoLink "Ask the Experts,"
I am one of thousands of prostate cancer patients who have undergone treatment. An ultrasound biopsy detected a prostate cancer with involvement in both lobes. After consulting with several MD's, I decided to undergo radiation therapy.

It has been 5 years since treatment and my PSA has slowly risen as high as 4.0 and is now 2.5.

Please direct me to post radiation treatments, in the event that my PSA does rise to levels requiring additional treatment.  
Thank you.

John Han-Chih Chang, MD and Kenneth Blank, MD, Editorial Assistants for Oncolink, respond:

There are several treatment options for patients who have their prostate cancer return following radiotherapy. These options include surgery, cryotherapy, hormonal therapy and experimental approaches such as photodynamic therapy. With the exception of hormonal therapy, all of these treatments are local in nature, treating only the prostate. If the cancer has metastcized somewhere else in the body then hormonal therapy is recommended. Hormonal therapy eliminates the body's supply of testosterone, a hormone which, is necessary for most prostate cancer cells to survive. This can be accomplished with medications (called lutenizing hormone releasing hormone agonists) or by surgical removal of the testicles (orchiectomy).