Are you afraid of cancer? Prostate cancer has a high cure rate

“If a person must get cancer in his life, I would rather get prostate cancer – this type of cancer has a particularly high cure rate and few side effects of treatment.” Facing prostate cancer patients who come for treatment, Helen Xiao-Li, an oncologist at the Staten Island Radiation Oncology Center in New York who has 20 years of clinical experience , said this. This sentence made the patient’s nervous mood relax a lot.

Although the words are humorous, the medical information contained in them is true. According to the American Cancer Society, the 5-year survival rate of patients with localized prostate cancer without distant metastasis after diagnosis is close to 90-100%. This is related to the characteristics of cancer itself and is inseparable from the development of treatment technology.

Prostate cancer treatment varies according to risk

Dr. Li Xiaohong introduced that early prostate cancer is divided into three types: low, medium and high risk, based on indicators such as the patient’s blood prostate-specific antigen PSA level and the prostate biopsy Gleason index. Among them, low-risk prostate cancer usually grows slowly or even does not grow, accounting for the majority of all prostate cancers. If the patient is older, in poor health, and has a life expectancy of less than 5 years, you can consider letting nature take its course and treatment is not recommended. However, regular follow-up is required. Patients need to check PSA every 3-6 months and have a prostate puncture biopsy once a year. If PSA is elevated or the biopsy tumor index is elevated, treatment is required. During the follow-up process, it was found that “the ultimate cause of death for many patients is not prostate cancer, but heart disease, diabetes or other diseases.” Dr. Li Xiaohong said.

If a low-risk prostate cancer patient is in his 60s or 70s, he should be treated if he is relatively young. For patients with medium- and high-risk prostate cancer, they should be treated regardless of their age. “The possibility of cancer metastasis is higher in medium- and high-risk patients,” Li Xiaohong reminded. “If it develops into stage 4 cancer, it will be more difficult to cure.”

Advantages of Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Dr. Li Xiaohong said that the main treatments for prostate cancer are radiotherapy (abbreviated as “radiotherapy”) , surgery and hormone therapy. Chemotherapy is only used for advanced cancer, while radiotherapy is widely used and can often replace surgery, especially for the elderly and frail, or those who suffer from other diseases and cannot undergo surgery. “Because there is no surgical trauma, the incidence of postoperative urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction is also significantly reduced, and up to 80% of men can retain their sexual ability.” During radiotherapy, all patients can work, live and exercise normally, and the impact on their daily lives is minimal.