Doctors will try different medications before referring you to a medical oncologist. If you are referred to one that would imply that your prostate cancer has reached an advanced stage. They would then be speaking about Chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy will destroy the cancer cells by interfering with their growth and reproduction. Chemotherapy can be performed either by administering drugs or by performing surgical operations. In some cases, it could be a combination of these two. Chemotherapy can in some cases be very effective the prostate cancer but will not cure it.
The known side-effects are chemotherapy are nausea, hair losses and mouth sores. A new technique called fractionated dose will diminish those side-effects.
Two common chemotherapy drugs are Mitoxantrone as well as Corticosteroids. The other drugs that are used for chemotherapy are rednisone, Paclitaxel and Docetaxel. The final brand which is becoming more and more popular is Estramustine.
Doctors will usually advice you to undergo a surgical operation. You will then be given some medications to take. Many studies have shown that this combination reduces the pains experienced by men to a great extent especially if the prostate cancer has spread to the bones. As explained before, the cancer will not totally disappear nor will you live longer.
Let us examine some other medications that are used and how they function:
Doxorubicin is an anti-tumor antibiotic which works by damaging the nuclei of cells.
Paclitaxel is a member of the Taxane group which functions by fastening the microtubules of cells and thus causing the cells to crumble during division.
Etoposide functions by slowing down the process of mitosis in cancerous cells.
Vinblastine is an antineoplastic which breaks apart cell division and is derived from the Madagascar periwinkle.
The use of chemotherapy in prostate cancer is still being studied and men who do have recourse to chemotherapy are strongly encouraged to discuss with their doctors about experimental trials.
Your oncologist will inform you of the benefits and drawbacks to of the different drugs described above. So do seek medical advice too and you would be in a better position to decide according to your own health and your personal values.
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