When it comes to prostate cancer, hormonal therapy is often used as a treatment option. This type of therapy uses hormones or drugs to stop the body from producing certain hormones, which can cause prostate cancer cells to grow. This article will explore the concept of hormonal therapy, what it is and what its implications may be.
What is hormonal therapy?
Prostate cancer hormone therapy helps stop the production or access of male hormones such as
testosterone, to prostate cancer cells. These cells require testosterone in order to grow and proliferate. With hormone treatment, they either slow down growth or die off entirely.
Although effective in the short term, hormone therapy for prostate cancer may not be a long term solution. This is because some cancer cells do not require hormones to grow and multiply. Once this occurs, further
utilization of hormone therapy becomes futile and your physician will likely consider alternative treatment options.
You might want to consider hormonal therapy;
- To reduce the size of cancerous tumors and slow their growth.
- If your PSA levels remain high or begin to climb again after undergoing treatment.
- To reduce the risk of recurrence.
Hormonal therapy on prostate cancer
How long you should take hormone therapy will depend on a variety of factors including your age, overall health, and the stage at which your cancer is. Ideally, it’s recommended that you stay with this form of
treatment as long as it’s showing positive results.
Your doctor might suggest intermittent therapy in order to give yourself breaks such breaks would involve
having tests every three months or so. Intermittent therapy could potentially reduce the number of side effects experienced.
It is believed that these breaks allow the body time to adjust to the new levels. However, more research is
necessary to validate this thought.
