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Options For Prostate Cancer Treatment In Canada

Precision Deployment Of New Treatments Improves Outcomes

Which is Better – Surgery vs. Radiation for Prostate Cancer?

Envitas proprietary new treatments include targeted precision-deployment procedures for delivering customizedanti-cancer medications, which not only debulk tumors, but also reactivate your immune system. The mode of precisiondeployment is determined based on each patients unique cancer expressions and the site of their tumors.

We use intravenous or interventional radiology procedures to increase the bioavailability of our customizedanti-cancermedicines, enabling them to better target the cancer without impacting the surrounding healthy cells. Our medicinesandprocedures reduce chances of side effects such as fatigue, pain in rectum region, erectile dysfunction, or any otherproblems in the area of urology, commonly seen with standard hormone therapy, radiation treatments, and maximum-doseuntargeted chemotherapy.

Patients may need any one or a combination of precision deployment mechanisms to effectively target their uniqueprostate cancer.Some of the commonly used treatments are:

Treatments For Prostate Cancer

If you have prostate cancer, your healthcare team will create a treatment plan just for you. It will be based on your health and specific information about the cancer. When deciding which treatments to offer for prostate cancer, your healthcare team will consider:

  • the type and stage of the cancer
  • the grade or Gleason score
  • prostate-specific antigen levels
  • possible side effects of treatments
  • your personal preferences
  • your overall health and any existing medical conditions
  • your age and life expectancy
  • whether you have symptoms

Prostate cancer treatments can seriously affect your quality of life and cause side effects such as erectile dysfunction and incontinence . Many prostate cancers grow slowly and cause no symptoms or problems.

A Clearly Superior Treatment Option

Proton radiation therapy is an advanced and extremely precise form of radiation treatment that targets and destroys tumor cells while reducing the risks of harmful side effects. It may be right for you if you are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer or if you have been found to have a recurrence after prior surgery or radiation therapy.

Treatment with proton therapy kills prostate cancer cells with a very high radiation dose. But because the protons are also highly targeted, they deliver more radiation to the prostate cancer and less to healthy organs surrounding the prostate gland, like the rectum, bowel, bladder, and hip bones. As a result, proton therapy minimizes the likelihood of side effects and can better preserve your quality of life.

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How Prostate Cancer Is Treated

In cancer care, different types of doctorsincluding medical oncologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologistsoften work together to create an overall treatment plan that may combine different types of treatments to treat the cancer. This is called a multidisciplinary team. Cancer care teams include a variety of other health care professionals, such as palliative care experts, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, oncology nurses, social workers, pharmacists, counselors, dietitians, physical therapists, and others.

The common types of treatments used for prostate cancer are described below. Your care plan may also include treatment for symptoms and side effects, an important part of cancer care.

Treatment options and recommendations depend on several factors, including the type and stage of cancer, possible side effects, and the patients preferences and overall health.

Cancer treatment can affect older adults in different ways. More information on the specific effects of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy on older patients can be found another section of this website.

Because most prostate cancers are found in the early stages when they are growing slowly, you usually do not have to rush to make treatment decisions. During this time, it is important to talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits of all your treatment options and when treatment should begin. This discussion should also address the current state of the cancer:

Envitas Unique New Treatments For Prostate Cancer

Help kick Prostate Cancer in the stones

To reduce chances of recurrence or metastasis, Envita personalizes a unique medical blueprint for each individualpatient based on the N of 1 model of treatment, which is a single subject clinical trial. Each patient is treated as asole unit of observation, allowing us to modify the course of treatment as needed for mitigating risks ofundertreatmentor overtreatment, leading to optimum results.

Medical studies show overtreatment andundertreatment are clinical challenges in prostate cancer treatment. Overtreatment creates an unnecessaryburden for many patientscausing other health complications due to medicine toxicity, while undertreatment remains a common problem leadingto recurrence or metastasis.

In our clinical opinion, the standardized approach to prostate cancer is limited to managing the disease, withoutprogressing towards long-term results of a holistic recovery. To counter this nearsighted approach, Envita focuses onafour-pillared personalized precision oncology treatment algorithm, with the goal of improving patients quality oflife,increasing longevity, and reducing toxicity.

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Are There Side Effects

The treatments for prostate cancer also can affect your body in other ways. Side effects can include:

  • Loss of your ability to get a woman pregnant
  • Leaky bladder or loss of bladder control. You might also need to pee a lot more often.

Side effects are another thing to think about when youâre choosing a treatment. If theyâre too tough to handle, you might want to change your approach. Talk to your doctor about what you can expect. They can also help you find ways to manage your side effects.

Thinking About Taking Part In A Clinical Trial

Clinical trials are carefully controlled research studies that are done to get a closer look at promising new treatments or procedures. Clinical trials are one way to get state-of-the art cancer treatment. In some cases they may be the only way to get access to newer treatments. They are also the best way for doctors to learn better methods to treat cancer. Still, they’re not right for everyone.

If you would like to learn more about clinical trials that might be right for you, start by asking your doctor if your clinic or hospital conducts clinical trials.

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Side Effects Of Targeted Therapy

Some men may experience side effects such as diarrhea, nausea and low red blood cell counts. Other possible side effects include:

Liver blood tests may also be abnormal.

One of the targeted therapies for prostate cancer, Lynparza® , may increase the risk for blood clots in the lungs and legs. These drugs may also cause a blood cancer such as myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia, but this is rare.

Provenge For Advanced Prostate Cancer

HIFU prostate cancer treatment offers non-invasive alternative

Sipuleucel-T is a “vaccine” for advanced prostate cancer that helps prolong survival.

Provenge isn’t your everyday vaccine. It’s an immune therapy created by harvesting immune cells from a patient, genetically engineering them to fight prostate cancer, and then infusing them back into the patient.

It’s approved only for treatment of patients with few or no prostate cancer symptoms whose cancer has spread outside the prostate gland and is no longer responding to hormone therapy.

Once a cancer grows beyond a certain point, the immune system has a hard time fighting it. One reason is that cancer cells look a lot to the immune system like normal cells. Another reason is that tumors may give off signals that manipulate the immune system into leaving them alone.

Provenge bypasses these problems. The treatment first removes a quantity of dendritic cells from a patient’s blood. Dendritic cells show pieces of tumor to immune cells, priming them to attack cells that carry those pieces.

The patient’s doctor ships the cells to Provenge’s manufacturer, Dendreon, which then exposes them to Provenge. Provenge is a molecule made inside genetically engineered insect cells.

Once these cells have been exposed to Provenge, they’re shipped back to the doctor who infuses them back into the patient. This is done three times in one month. The first infusion primes the immune system. The second and third doses spur an anticancer immune response.

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End Stage Prostate Cancer Symptoms

These are some of the common symptoms of end stage prostate cancer:

  • frequent urination and even more at night
  • pain in lower back, hips or upper legs from metastasis
  • occasional blood in your urine
  • painful urination
  • aches and pains and tiredness
  • erectile difficulties

The pain in the pelvis and hips can be the result of prostate bone cancer that has spread outside the prostate due to metastasis.

Surgery For Prostate Cancer

In some cases of advanced or recurrent prostate cancer, surgeons may remove the entire prostate gland in a surgery known as “salvage” prostatectomy. They usually do not perform the nerve-sparing form of prostatectomy. Often, surgeons will remove the pelvic lymph nodes at the same time.

Cyrosurgery may be used in cases of recurrent prostate cancer if the cancer has not spread beyond the prostate. Cryosurgery is the use of extreme cold to destroy cancer cells.

To reduce testosterone levels in the body, doctors may sometimes recommend removing the testicles, a surgery called orchiectomy. After this surgery, some men choose to get prosthetics that resemble the shape of testicles.

Doctors may also remove part of the prostate gland with one of two procedures, either a transurethral resection of the prostate or a transurethral incision of the prostate . This relieves blockage caused by the prostate tumor, so urine can flow normally. This is a palliative measure, which means it is done to increase the patient’s comfort level, not to treat the prostate cancer itself.

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Immuno Targeting Increases Disease

Immunotherapy can be effective against prostate cancer treatment, provided they include new therapies beyond vaccine therapies andcheckpoint blockades. At Envita, we have been instrumental in combining different types ofadvanced immunotherapies moving beyond the scope of PD-1, PD-L1, or CTLA-4 inhibitors and other smart drugs.

What Are The Risks

Management Of superior Prostate cancer

Often, prostate cancer is low-risk.

Many prostate cancers are found with a prostate-specific antigen blood test. Often these cancers are low-risk. This means:

  • The tumour is small.
  • It is contained within the prostate.
  • The PSA blood test is not very high .

For most with low-risk prostate cancer, the tumour is probably growing so slowly that it will not become life-threatening. Usually a man with low-risk prostate cancer passes away of something else, even if he doesnt get treatment for prostate cancer.

Active surveillance may help your quality of life.

With this approach, you have regular checkups, including a PSA test and rectal exam. Youll get a prostate biopsy if needed. You can start treatment at any time if the cancer starts to grow.

Active surveillance is a good choice for many with low-risk prostate cancer, because they can avoid the side effects of treatment. This is an especially important choice if you are older or in poor health.

Treatment can have side effects.

Side effects from surgery or radiation may include:

  • Impotencenot getting erections that are firm enough for intercourse.
  • Leaking urine. There may be complete loss of bladder control, but this is less common.
  • Frequent, urgent, bloody, or painful bowel movements.

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What You Need To Know About Prostate Cancer Treatment In Canada

There is no single prostate cancer treatment that can be used for everyone, but your doctor will recommend one for you which is dependent on several factors, such as the stage of the disease, your age, your general health, your personal preference, as well as how quickly the tumor is likely to grow. The main treatment for prostate cancer includes surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.

What Does A Prostate Cancer Treatment Procedure Involve

If you are generally healthy and cancer has not spread, surgery is the best option. Surgery is performed during general anesthetic and may involve removing your prostate gland and the tissue around it. Following on with radiation therapy, high-energy beams are used to kill the cancer cells, or with chemotherapy, drugs taken by the mouth or through an IV are used to kill cancer cells and shrink the tumors. For advanced prostate cancer, immunotherapy is used to use your immune system to fight cancer.

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Getting Proton Therapy Covered By Insurance

The New York Proton Center accepts both Medicare & Medicaid and is currently in-network with many commercial insurers. We are committed to working with ALL insurance companies to help patients secure approval. We will provide your insurer with supporting clinical evidence about your case. We will work with you to complete all the paperwork, explain to your insurance company the reasoning behind your treatment plan and assist you throughout the process.Please contact us so we can discuss your particular situation and provide support to help you secure coverage.

Role Of Family Physicians

The Five Stages of Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer Staging Guide

No one treatment of localized prostate cancer has proven to be clearly superior. For many patients, making the treatment decision can be challenging. Men are often required to process a large amount of previously unfamiliar information and assess the risks and benefits of various treatments while limiting the possibility of regretting the decision at a later date. Information given by urologists and radiation oncologists can be sometimes contradictory, confusing, and overwhelming. More so, such specialists are likely to recommend the treatment that they commonly provide. Patients are known to often rely on spouses, family members, friends, anecdotes, media, and the Internet to help make decisions.

Family physicians can provide further support to patients and their partners, when appropriate. They might further explore various treatment attributes and patient preferences regarding different treatment options, and at the same time, limit the cognitive burden. Focused discussion on the most important issues for each individual patient is likely to increase patient and partner involvement in the decision-making process. The Queens University Decision Aid in Early Stage Prostate Cancer computer program download might be useful.

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Fractionated Prostate Cancer Radiation Treatment

External beam radiation is sometimes called Fractionated, meaning that small doses are given over a long period of time. Patients receive radiotherapy once a day, Monday through Friday over 5-9 weeks, depending on the patient. Normal prostate cells can repair the damage of a small amount of radiation fairly quickly. Cancerous cells cannot. Receiving a small dose everyday helps to minimize the damage sustained by the healthy cells of the surrounding organs. Giving patients the weekend off helps their body to recover enough to withstand the next five days of treatment.

Trying New Potential Treatments

You may also want to talk to your doctor about taking part in a clinical trial. These are studies that test treatments to see if theyâre safe and if they work. They might be new drugs or a mix of treatments that havenât been used together before. You could also be part of the âcontrolâ group and not get the new treatment at all. Clinical trials offer you early access to brand new treatments, but itâs also important to remember that they may not work. Youâll want to talk with your doctor to make sure you understand the pros and cons of a research study before you join one. To find clinical trials, ask your doctor or search the National Institutes of Health database at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

At some point, your treatment may stop working. If that happens, you can still get care to ease symptoms like nausea, pain, and tiredness. Even though it may not cure your cancer, the goal is to make you feel better.

Show Sources

American Cancer Society: âHormone therapy for prostate cancer,ââPreventing and treating prostate cancer spread to bones,ââVaccine treatment for prostate cancer,ââWhat is metastatic cancer?ââWhen Cancer Doesnât Go Away,â âUnderstanding Advanced and Metastatic Cancer,â âWhatâs New in Prostate Cancer Research?â

Prostate Cancer UK: âWhat is locally advanced prostate cancer?â

ClinicalTrials.gov: âLearn About Clinical Studies.â

National Cancer Institute: âCancer Vaccines.â

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Also Check: Can You Reverse Prostate Cancer

Side Effects Of Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy may cause side effects associated with low testosterone, such as hot flashes, sweating, weight gain, reduced sexual desire and depression. Some men also may experience swollen breasts, depression, memory loss and heart problems. Eventually, the cancer may become resistant to hormone therapy. If hormone therapy stops working, doctors may switch treatments.

Hormone Therapy Also Called Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Localized Prostate Cancer: Treatment Options

Hormone therapy is used to control the production or block the impact of male hormones, called androgens, on theprostate cancer cells. However standard hormone therapy may lead to side effects such as hot flashes, weight-gain,dizziness, and osteoporosis, often diagnosed through a bone scan. To avoid these side effects, we always useappropriatelevels of immunotherapy as a follow-up to hormone therapy.

There are several types of hormone therapy to lower testosterone levels and other androgens, produced by thetesticles,adrenal glands, and even the prostate cancer cells. Some of the different types of hormone therapy include:

  • Orchiectomy, which is the surgical removal of testicles
  • Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonists and antagonists
  • Anti-androgens or androgen receptor antagonists

We also use different proprietary procedures to heal your bones and relieve you from pain, in case your bone densityisaffected by hormone therapy prior to starting treatment at Envita.

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Effective Energetic Treatment For Enlarged Prostate

Topics in this Post

Enlarged prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia , is a common condition as men get older. By age 60, about 30% of men show moderate to severe symptoms of BPH by age 80, it is 50%. An enlarged prostate gland can cause uncomfortable urinary symptoms, such as a weak urine stream, urine stream that starts and stops, frequently getting up at night to urinate, and inability to void the bladder.

There are many different treatment options for BPH, ranging from behavior medications to surgery. A minimally invasive option is bipolar enucleation of the prostate, or BipoLEP. If you are considering treatment, here’s what you need to know.

Prostate anatomy

The prostate is a small organ that sits at the bottom of the bladder. The urethra, the tube the drains the bladder, runs through the middle of the prostate.

Early in a mans life, the prostate is roughly the size of a walnut or a small tangerine. Often around 50, the prostate increases in size. For some men, this change closes off the urethra and makes it more difficult for the bladder to empty.

The prostate has two parts. The adenoma is the inner part that surrounds urethra. It is the part of the prostate that grows as men get older. The capsule is the outer part of the prostate and does not change in size over the course of life. A good analogy is to think of an orange. The orange peel represents the capsule, and the fruit represents the adenoma.

Removal of prostate tissue

Procedure

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