Prostate Cancer Health Article

Coping with cancer treatment

The treatment process for prostate cancer can be a physically and emotionally exhausting time. Here are six general suggestions that can help make the process easier. Patients should:

• put their faith and trust in their doctor once a treatment course has been chosen
• remember that a patient is never without power and rights during the course of treatment
• put practical affairs in order
• closely monitor each step of the treatment
• keep close family and friends informed and delegate responsibilities as necessary
• work to make visits pleasant and comfortable
• be careful to eat, sleep, exercise, and conduct daily activities in a healthy manner

Clinical trials

Patients with extraprostatic disease are suitable candidates for clinical trials. One trial is the testing of a vaccine (GVAX) that causes the body to mount an immune response against all prostate cells. As the prostate is a nonessential organ, the destruction of the normal cells with the tumor cells is not a problem. The vaccine was made using cancer cells from a tumor that had been genetically engineered to express granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a potent activator of the entire immune system. The additional protein jumpstarted the immune response against the prostate cells upon vaccination and resulted in antitumor immune response.

Other trials for prostate cancer include evaluation of combination therapies, such as postoperative radiation delivery, use of cytotoxic agents, and hormonal treatment using luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists and/or antiandrogens to shut down the growth of the hormone-dependent tumors.

Prevention

Because the cause of the cancer is not known, there is no definite way to prevent prostate cancer. Given its common occurrence and the low cost of screening, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends that all men over age 40 have an annual rectal exam and that men have an annual PSA test beginning at age 50. African-American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer, who have a higher than average risk, should begin annual PSA testing even earlier, starting at age 45.

However, mandatory screening for prostate cancer is controversial. Because the cancer is so slow growing, and the side effects of the treatment can have significant impact on patient quality of life, some medical organizations question the wisdom of yearly exams. Some organizations have even noted that the effect of screening is discovering the cancer at an early stage when it may never grow to have any outward effect on the patient during their lifetime. Nevertheless, the NCI reports that the current aggressive screening methods have achieved a reduction in the death rate of prostate cancer of about 2.3% for African-Americans and about 4.6% for Caucasians since the mid-1990s, with a 20% increase in overall survival rate during that period.

A low-fat diet may slow the progression of prostate cancer. To reduce the risk or progression of prostate cancer, the American Cancer Society recommends a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and dietary fiber, and low in red meat and saturated fats.