If you have prostate cancer, you're naturally in search of the most efficacious treatment. Because prostate cancer is a lifestyle disease, many men control the progression of the cancer through lifestyle changes. If you do require treatment, fortunately, non-invasive treatments like cyberknife radiation can allow you to live a normal life while treating your prostate cancer.
Ensuring you get the best treatment at the right stage of your prostate cancer requires busting a few common treatment myths.
A High PSA Level Means You Have Prostate Cancer
PSA is a protein produced by healthy and cancerous prostate cells. The higher your PSA level, the higher the probability that the elevation is caused by cancer cells. Other factors, though, could be causing the rise in PSA levels, including an inflamed or infected prostate. As a preventive measure, you should have a biopsy performed to rule out prostate cancer.
If you do have prostate cancer, you can benefit from the most efficacious non-invasive treatment methods for early-to-intermediate stage prostate cancer. Cyberknife radiation for prostate cancer, for example, is an outpatient treatment with a high cure rate. A very high precision beam delivers radiation therapy to the cancerous cells.
Treatment Should Be Started Immediately
A popular treatment option is lifestyle changes. Many men with low to intermediate levels of prostate cancer reduce their PSA levels to a safe range by changing their diet and exercise habits. Most importantly, you've started an active surveillance regime and can seek treatment when and if necessary.
With early detection, non-invasive treatments are an option. Rushing into a more aggressive treatment regime such as surgery or chemotherapy could produce lifelong side effects. These side effects could last much longer than the prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer Is Not a Chronic Disease
Fortunately, 100 percent of men with prostate cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body make a full recovery. For far fewer, the cancer will become a chronic disease. If recurrent treatments are required, non-invasive methods are making it possible to manage chronic prostate cancer with minimum discomfort and side effects.
In a recent study over five years, for example, men who received cyberknife radiation for prostate cancer were able to control the disease with a very low incidence of side effects. Sixty-nine percent of the subjects did not require hormone therapy. Hormone therapy, the most used treatment for chronic prostate therapy, has more serious side effects.
By conducting active surveillance, if you do require treatment, you will be able to benefit from convenient, low-risk, non-invasive treatment options.
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