The radiation therapy is one type of treatment that destroys the DNA of the cancerous cells, preventing them from multiplying; we categorize this method into two different medical procedures: the external therapy uses the proton beams to damage the infected tissue parts and the prostate cancer brachytherapy is done by inserting radioactive seeds, very small in size with the shape of a rice grain, in the gland and leave them there to kill the malignant tumor and to slowly decay.
The brachytherapy method of treatment for the prostate cancer is categorized depending on the rate or intensity of the radiation dose, the duration of the radiation dose delivered and the placement of the radiation sources on the infected area.
Each cancer, even if we are referring to the same type, is unique and manifests itself differently in different patients; by comparing the stages, the grades and the period of time necessary for a malignant tumor to grow, usually being four years for it to double its size, of one cancer to different other ones, we can establish the general characteristics of that particular cancer but is still difficult to guess its exact outcome.
Of course, some factors that are blamed for the development of the prostate cancer can not be avoided and these are the inherited genes, the aging process, the “male menopause” or “andropause”; the other causes are the poor diet in nutritional foods and excessive alcohol drinking and smoking.
We’ve mentioned something about the research in the cancer treatment field but it is also worth mentioning the three main sections in which this activity is oriented and that being the research of the prostate stem cells that might hold unknown possibilities for curing cancer, the analyzing of the prostate cancer invasion and spread, especially determining the mutations that might slow down the multiplication of the cancerous cells or altering their damaging behaviour and the last research being the one to predict the prostate cancer outcome, which is a very troublesome activity.
The recommended screening tests and the prostate biopsy are the most popular methods of cancer detections but they do have their series of flaws; the screenings include to examination procedures: the digital rectal exam by palpating the prostate gland after inserting a gloved finger into the rectum and by taking some blood samples to establish the levels of the free testosterone and prostate specific antigen. The normal levels are low but when the levels are high there is a high possibility for the cancer cells to be found within the gland and you should also be aware of the fact that only the malignant tumors are responsible for cancer while the benign tumors, with a correct treatment, are pretty much harmless.
The brachytherapy word comes from the greek word “brachy”, translated as “short-distanced”, and is a procedure discovered in the early 1900’s by Pierre Curie and Henri-Alexandre Danlos, after experimenting a little with the radiation method and obtaining results such as the shrinkage of the tumors; the brachytherapy used for treating the cancer was officially adopted by the medical community in 1983.
The prostate biopsy is a procedure done by extracting different tissue samples from the prostate gland and analyzing them; this method can be complemented with the radionuclide bone scans, the prostate mapping, the coaxial tomography or the nomogram, combining factors such as the results of using different treatment forms such as the androgen deprivation therapy or the brachytherapy treatment for the prostate cancer, the biopsy pathology and the radiation dosage if the proton therapy would be used, the stage of the cancer, etc.
This leads us to another important step in determining the main features of the cancer and that being the staging process, done with the help of the TNM, tumor, nodes and metastatic, or the alternative, the Whitmore-Jewett systems and the grading process with the popular Gleason score.
The common side-effects of brachytherapy are rectal bleeding, urinary retention, urinary incontinent and sometimes impotence, painful urination or dysuria, diarrhea or constipation; these symptoms can be temporare or be permanent; the inserted radioactive seeds can travel to other surrounding areas of the prostate, sometimes being passed in the urine or the seminal liquid.
The chances of survival will slowly decrease if the tumor is already locally advanced or metastatic and even if the prescribed treatment proves effective or after a period of fifteen years had already passes for the survival rates to stabilize, there possibility of cancer recurrence will always remain and sometimes the cancer can recur in more aggressive forms such as the metastases.
0 comments