Prostate Cancer – Innovations in Treatment

Whenever the discussion is prostate cancer the very first points offered will be to emphasis how important it is for the individual (man) to be well informed and proactive about having annual checkups, because early detection has so many advantages and allows the patient the widest range of options including the latest advances in treatments and new technology.

The purpose of course is to try and get potential prostate cancer victims to take the initiative for their own health, rather than rely on new treatments and procedures, because having a healthy life style helps prevent prostate cancer, and catching the disease early is the best indicator of successful treatment. However, that being said, a discussion of new advances in the detection and treatment of prostate cancer certainly is in order if for no other reason than there has been so many in recent decades.

There have been advances in both detection and testing. Advances have also been made in new treatments to compliment those already known and used. The latest addition, however, is in the area of technology where robots have replaced the surgeon in some cases.

This is no small achievement, and while it might conjure up some frightening mental images of being operated on by a cold heartless machine instead of a human being, those images are not founded. The simple fact is that while the robots are actually operated by surgeons the robots do a better job than the surgeon ever could. The robots can work with a smaller incision, which aids the healing process. There are fewer complications and infections with robots. And surgery performed by robots makes both the amount of time the patient is hospitalized and total recovery time shorter.

Surgical robots have provided a new tool to fight a disease that not only attacks the prostate gland, but can also form around the urethra, and can spread rapidly to the rest of the body including bones and lymph nodes. Surgeries to remove the prostate gland are delicate procedures at best and with any complications they become far more intricate. The precision of the robot allows it to function at much more minute levels greatly increasing the odds of success while still lowering risks of errors and complications.

The robots join another fairly recent surgical procedure, Cryosurgery, which uses extreme cold to actually freeze the tumor, in a procedure known as a transurethral resection. This procedure relieves pain from urinary blockage, and it is less invasive, making this treatment appropriate for a wider range of ages and conditions.

Even with these technological advances, however, there is a much better medical strategy for dealing with prostate cancer and that is to adopt a healthy life style, be proactive about doctor visits and annual checkups, and agree to or even ask to have routine tests that can help catch prostate cancer in its earliest stages.

This is one of the benefits of the test for PSA levels. PSA stands for prostate specific antigen and high levels of PSA in the blood stream are a good indicator that something might be wrong and more tests are needed. The PSA test cannot actually confirm or rule out prostate cancer, but this test is still an important tool against a disease that has very few physical signs in the early stages, and can spread rapidly.

But it still must be said; all the advances, all the new tests and treatments, and in all likelihood all the advances for at least the foreseeable future are not going to do more for the patient than the patient can do for himself. Healthy lifestyles lower the risks of all kinds of cancer, and may help avoid prostate cancer entirely. Regular checkup and tests are the best way to catch prostate cancer early, and early detection is the best predictor of successful treatment. Admittedly (and hopefully) doing these things may deprive more men of the experience of having surgery performed by a robot, but that seems like a small price to pay in life, and especially for life.

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