New Hope For Men With Prostate Cancer

Being diagnosed with prostate cancer is a frightening event. It will turn your life and the lives of those around you upside down. You will not only be battling cancer, but you will be filled with worries and concerns both for you and for your loved ones. Your doctor will discuss the treatment that is best for you and your disease. But what happens if everything including hormone therapy has failed? Is the only answer removal of the testicles?

Hormone therapy will work in most patients but sometimes hormone therapy is not the answer. But if hormone therapy is not working there is a new drug that is now used to treat breast cancer that may be effective in treating prostate cancer too. The drug with the trade name of Taxotere (docetaxel) has been found to extend life for at least two months.

The drug does cause some side effects and is not considered a cure but it will stem the growth of cancer cells so alternate therapies can be tried. This drug is expected to be approved by the Federal Drug Administration within another year.

Two studies involving over 1800 men with advanced prostate cancer were involved in clinical trials to discover how effective the new drug can be. The results were encouraging. No other drug has ever shown a benefit for men with advanced cases of prostate cancer. This is especially important for men who are not responding to hormone treatment. The patients involved in the clinical trials did experience significant side effects such as nausea and hair loss but they reported that overall their quality of life improved after treatment with this new drug.

Doctors and researchers are happy with the progress of the new drug technology but are aware that powerful drugs are not without some side effects. Some men may choose not to undergo treatment with the new drug because of those side effects. It will most likely be men with advanced prostate cancer who has exhausted all other treatment choices.

This chemotherapy drug is the first of its kind to show it actually lengthens the lives of patients suffering from prostate cancer. The new drug is produced by the drug company Adventis and is already licensed for use in advanced breast and lung cancer. Many doctors and researchers hope this will new drug will give prostate cancer patients a better hope of a longer life expectancy.

Researchers and scientists are making great strides in finding new and improved ways of not only detecting and the treatment of prostate cancer. In the past the only treatment for prostate cancer was the removal of the testicles. Today men have other treatments available to treat this dreaded disease. This new drug just gives one more possible alternative method of prolonging life and treating prostate cancer. We hope and pray for more advances in treating prostate and all cancers.

If you or someone you love are experiencing any signs of prostate problems they should consult with their family doctor.

About the Author:
Mike Serovey is the owner and webmaster for http://www.mikeserovey.net where you can submit your articles for free.