Which Prostate Treatments Are Most Effective?
All men above the age of 60 are candidates for prostate disorders. Prostatitis, or enlargement of the prostate, is just one of them; affliction may be acute (sudden development of enlargement of the prostate, caused by bacterial infection and transmitted through unprotected sexual activities with an infected mate) or chronic (gradual development of the enlargement of the prostate; in most cases, this affliction persists for a prolonged period of time). When symptoms of enlarged prostatitis are present, a specialist should be consulted immediately – this should not be neglected or delayed so that early detection for prostate cancer could be effected.
Erectile dysfunction and impotence, among others, are also prostate disorders. There is an abundance of prostate treatments available in the market today, both traditional and herbal. Traditional medications in the treatment of prostate problems come in the form of pills or injectable chemicals. In serious cases, as in prostate cancer, an operation may be necessary to remove the malignant cells, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy and oral medication therapy. Side effects for traditional post-operation treatment methods may ensue; this happens because the healthy cells are also affected by the onslaught of invasive chemicals and the body system react to this invasion. Many specialists advise the patient to concern themselves with addressing the side effects once the main ailment has been duly treated.
Fortunately, prostate treatments now come in herbal form, too, so the patients now have several treatment alternatives to choose from. Herbal medications are not only for patients who cannot afford the exorbitant prices of traditional medicines; through the years, there is already a rising awareness in the better benefits of herbal medicines and there is now a popular clamor for these alternative treatment. Among the precautions issued by medical specialists who promote traditional medicines over alternative medicine is that traditional medicines are for faster action, while herbal medicines take too long a time and large doses for it to take effect.
One of the popular claims of herbal treatment, on the other hand, is the absence of post-medication side effects. Topping the list of popular herbal medications that specifically address prostate problems are drugs made from extracts from saw palmetto and pygeum. It is a fact that the amount of DHT (dihydrotestosterone) in the prostate gland increases as a man’s age advances; this high level of prostate DHT may promote excessive cell growth in the gland and, hence, enlargement of the prostate. Elimination of DHT is promoted by herbal prostate treatments.
Prostate treatments, traditional or herbal, are aimed at solving whatever prostate problems there may be; it is up to the patient to choose the course he wants to take in alleviating his particular case.
Trevor Mulholland
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April 1st, 2010 at 11:32 am
please explain the problem of the following article, please!?
A diagnosis of prostate cancer is scary enough. But just as scary is that nobody can tell a man the best way to treat it.
This month, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality issued a sweeping review of prostate cancer treatments, including surgical removal, radiation, hormone therapy and so-called watchful waiting, which involves careful monitoring but no active treatment until the cancer shows signs of growing.
Because none of these treatments emerged as superior, the agency came to the troubling conclusion that it could not recommend one over the others.
“Having been involved in this area for a long time, it was not shocking, but it is disappointing,” said Dr. Timothy J. Wilt, lead researcher on the report, from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research. “Information is really lacking to determine whether over all one treatment is more effective and preferred.”
Prostate cancer is the single most common cancer in the United States and the second most lethal among men after lung cancer. In 2008, the American Cancer Society estimates, 186,320 men will learn that they have it and 28,660 will die from it. The estimates for breast cancer are 182,460 and 40,480.
Prostate cancer is often diagnosed with a blood test that looks for prostate-specific antigen, P.S.A. There is widespread consensus that the test casts too wide a net, resulting in overdiagnosis and overtreatment. And the treatment can be devastating, leaving men impotent, incontinent or both.
The reasons behind the lack of data on prostate cancer are complex. A lack of financing and advocacy have roles. But so does the fact that prostate tumors grow slowly and can take 10 or more years to turn deadly. Not only does that make the disease particularly expensive and time consuming to study, but it is also a built-in disincentive for the drug industry, which typically has patent protection from 7 to 20 years.
A bigger obstacle to finding answers may be the patients, who have long been reluctant to participate in clinical trials, and their doctors, who tend to scorn such trials because they are already convinced that their chosen treatment is the best option.
One major clinical trial called Spirit, for Surgical Prostatectomy Versus Interstitial Radiation Intervention Trial, would have compared surgical removal with brachytherapy, which involves implanting radioactive seeds. Just 56 of the 1,980 needed patients enrolled, and the trial was called off in 2004.
“Men don’t go into the clinical trials,” said Dr. Daniel P. Petrylak, associate professor of medicine and director of the genitourinary oncology program at the Columbia University Medical Center. “That’s the whole problem. Patients ask me all the time, ‘What is the best treatment?’ And I can’t give them an evidence-based approach for that, because we don’t have the data.”
Prostate doctors and patient advocates often compare their cause with that of the other leading sex-specific cancer: one of the largest prostate cancer support groups is called Us Too, a play on the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. The dismal state of prostate cancer research and advocacy pales in comparison to the campaign against breast cancer.
“We’re at least a decade behind where breast cancer awareness is,” Thomas Kirk, president of Us Too, said. “We need to catch up. The lessons learned by breast cancer are the ones we’re trying to apply to prostate cancer.”
Prostate cancer groups have tried to replicate the success of the pink ribbon campaign with their own blue ribbon, but it has yet to gain widespread acceptance. A group advocating the development of imaging technology for prostate screening created a mascot, Prosty the Spokesgland, complete with a theme song, to the tune of “Frosty the Snowman.” Not surprisingly, it has not caught on, either.
Government spending for prostate cancer lags, too. In 2007, the National Cancer Institute spent an estimated $551.1 million on breast cancer research and $305.6 million on prostate cancer. For 2008, the Defense Department, which has a history of supporting health research, has allocated $138 million for breast cancer and $80 million for prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer researchers say the real problem is not so much financing as enlisting doctors and patients on board for clinical trials.
By 2010, men should have some answers from Pivot, the Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial, which is comparing surgical removal with watchful waiting. Results of studies looking at P.S.A. screening as well as the preventive benefits of the supplements vitamin E and selenium are also expected in a few years
April 1st, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Dude do your own homework!
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April 1st, 2010 at 4:36 pm
the problem is finding the home-run marketing campaign
money
finding men who are willing to be in a proper study–maybe they would do it if they were paid?
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April 1st, 2010 at 4:38 pm
sounds like a homework question.
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