With today’s medical technology, more and more men are surviving prostate cancer. Statistics show that one out of six men will develop this cancer sometime during his life and this is why it’s strongly recommended that men over the age of 40 have yearly screenings. Early detection plays a huge part of successfully getting through all the prostate cancer treatments, as the survival rate for those who catch the cancer early on is nearly 100%. Although, there is always a possibility there disease will relapse sometime in the future.
Prostate Cancer Treatments
Researchers have studied why some men’s chances of relapsing are higher than others. Studies have showed that men who were treated with radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer may experience a biochemical relapse.
Years of research has proven that low levels of oxygen in the prostate have a strong impact on a patient’s outcome. Researchers have measured the partial pressure of oxygen in prostate cancer patients and they were able to show that the patients who had lower oxygen levels were at a much higher risk of experiencing a relapse.
Researchers are planning on continuing the process of looking for innovative prostate cancer treatments for these specific patients. They are hoping that a variation of radiation therapy and angiogenesis therapy may be the key to helping these particular patients.
Surviving Prostate Cancer
After prostate cancer patients have gone into remission, they have a 30 percent chance of the cancer coming back within five years. This is why it’s very important that a patient continues to be monitored by his physician, as the doctor will be able to keep track of the levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the patient’s blood.
If PSA is detected in the patient, this is known as a biochemical relapse. The doctor will then need to use imaging systems to determine exactly where the cancer has reappeared.
With prostate cancer patients who experience a biochemical relapse, imaging systems may return a false negative result, which may indicate that the cancer is not present, when in fact it really is. Studies are proving that full body PET/CT image systems with choline are much more accurate than the conservative imaging system.
Medical technology is definitely coming up with new prostate cancer treatments each new year. With patients who have experienced prostate cancer, there is always a chance for a biochemical relapse and this is why it’s so important to take advantage of newest technology available, by continuing ongoing screenings. With many researchers looking out for prostate cancer patients, there is hope for a brighter tomorrow.
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