Treating Prostate Cancer with Hormone Therapy

In the past the only treatment for prostate cancer was an orchiectomy. That is the surgical removal of the testicles. Thank goodness research has come a long way since then! We now have available several medications that can be given to men to decrease male hormone levels without this drastic surgery. The medicines are available as pills, injections, and implants. Hormone therapy is mainly used for a man who has cancer come back or spread to other areas of the body because it does have limits. Sometimes hormone therapy is used to slow down cancer growth if removing or killing the cancer cells is not possible. Hormone therapy can add years to a man's life and make him feel better. The average patient will experience two to three years of remission but time varies for each patient.

Hormone therapy was first discovered to work on prostate cancer over 60 years ago. Charles Huggins won the Nobel Prize for making this discovery. He found that removing one of the sources of male hormones could slow the growth of prostate cancer. He found that removing the testicles had an effect on the growth of cancer cells. Before this discovery men would often be bedridden and have terrible pain. After their testicles were removed they improved dramatically. Androgens found in the male hormones gives a man his male sexual characteristics. Facial hair, muscle mass, and a deep voice are all developed because of androgen and testosterone is one of those androgens. Over 90 percent of androgen is produced in the testicles. The balance is made in the adrenal glands.

Hormone therapy works by keeping the body from making these androgens. If hormone therapy doesn't stop production it will block their effects. Whenever this hormone level drops the cancer slows in growth. Doctors and scientists believe that testosterone and other hormones act like fertilizer for cancer. If you do take away the hormones the cancer goes into shock and cancer cells are killed. Between 80 and 90 percent of advanced prostate cancer can be shrunk by reducing androgens in the body.

Hormone therapy will not work forever. Some of the cancer cells do not grow or spread because of hormones. These cells will eventually spread and hormone therapy will not work. This is when your doctor will talk to you about alternate treatments. Some of these alternate treatments include chemicals that stop the production of testosterone. This is sometimes called a chemical castration. This can be reversed once the patient stops taking the chemical. There are some significant side effects to these chemicals. You may experience loss of sex drive and muscle, development of breasts, weight gain, tiredness and a decline in "good" cholesterol. The chemical is injected ever one to four months although a new drug has been introduced that allows an implant that only needs to be replaced once a year.

Your doctor should talk to you and fully explain the risks involved with any hormone therapy. Education is the key to choosing the right hormone therapy for each patient.

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