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If your cancer extends outside the prostate gland but has not spread to other parts of the body, you may be offered hormone therapy or a combination of radiotherapy and hormone therapy.
Hormone therapy
This treatment may shrink and control prostate for months or years. You can have hormone therapy for as long as it continues to control your cancer.
Prostate cancer needs the male hormone testosterone to grow. Hormone therapy stops the body from producing testosterone, and this slows down the growth of the cancer cells.
Some patients have hormone therapy for three months before radiotherapy. The aim is to shrink the cancer and make the radiotherapy more likely to be effective.
You will continue with the hormone therapy during your radiotherapy and for at least two months afterwards.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells. It is usually given from outside the body – this treatment is called external beam radiotherapy.
For prostate cancer, radiotherapy is usually divided into treatments given every day, Monday-Friday, over 7-8 weeks.
Sometimes, hormone therapy without radiotherapy is offered.
Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP)
This treatment can be used to control some of the symptoms of prostate cancer but cannot cure it. Sometimes prostate cancer can cause a blockage to the bladder so that some men have problems urinating. A TURP may help to unblock the bladder. It is particularly useful for people who do not want or are not fit for other types of treatment for prostate cancer.
