Prostate Cancer Health Center

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Prostate cancer and its treatment also may cause nausea, pain, or other side effects. You can use home treatment to manage some of these side effects. If you experience nausea, wait for 1 hour after vomiting has stopped and then sip a rehydration drink to restore lost fluids and nutrients. Your doctor may prescribe medicines to control nausea and vomiting. Constipation and diarrhea may be eased if you drink enough fluids.

For more information about managing pain, see the topic Cancer Pain.

If you decide to watch and wait (active surveillance) instead of having treatment, you will have regular checkups with your doctor to check on your cancer. Your checkups may include digital rectal exams, PSA tests, or biopsies. It is possible that a curable cancer could spread and become incurable during a 6-month period, but this is not common. If there is no change in your condition, you may continue active surveillance. If the cancer begins to grow or spread, you may consider medicines, surgery, or radiation.

Treatment if the condition gets worse

For information on prostate cancer that spreads or comes back, see the topic Prostate Cancer, Advanced or Metastatic.

What to Think About

One kind of radiation therapy used mostly in clinical trials is proton therapy. Proton therapy uses a different type of energy (protons) rather than X-rays. This allows a higher amount of specifically directed radiation, which protects nearby healthy tissues (especially the rectum). Sometimes proton therapy is combined with X-ray therapy.

Another treatment is high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), which uses an intense heat from focused sound waves to kill cancer cells. HIFU is also used for men who have cancer inside the prostate but who cannot have surgery. HIFU is a treatment that is used in Canada, Europe, and the United States. In the U.S., HIFU is being used in clinical trials. It is not yet FDA-approved.

Age is not a reason to avoid surgery. But if you are 70 or older, other medical conditions, such as heart disease, may affect your decision. Men who are older also have a higher rate of incontinence and impotence after surgery. Age is especially important to think about if you have early-stage cancer, which generally grows slowly.

Get a second or even a third opinion before making your treatment decisions. You may hear differing advice or opinions, which may seem confusing. But talking with other doctors can help you make your decision. If your doctor is a medical oncologist, you may want to talk with other prostate cancer specialists, such as a urologist, a radiation or urologic oncologist, or a surgeon.

Studies show that fewer side effects are reported at large medical centers, where the surgeons do prostatectomies more often and so are more experienced and skilled.⁵