Cancer is a life-changing diagnosis.
But for men with prostate cancer, the condition does not have to mean an end to their way of life.
“These surgeries do have an effect on the quality of life for these guys,” said Dr. Robert Brookland with Greater Baltimore Medical Center. “There?s an immediate effect on urinary control. Most people are going to get back that control.”
Surgery can help some patients, although Brookland said 95 percent or more are not affected in the long term.
One of the main side effects prostate cancer patient Joe Nemec faced is the sheer physical exhaustion of coping with multiple targeted radiation therapy treatments over the last six weeks.
“It?s like you?re tired all the time,” Nemec, 66, said.
Targeted therapy ? shot into the body from four tubes focused on the prostate ? can cut the risk of permanent side effects common to prostate cancer therapy, Brookland said.
Sexual dysfunction is a bigger issue for most patients, Brookland said.
Death rates for the four most common cancers ? prostate, breast, lung and colorectal ? as well as for all cancers combined continue to decline into the new century, according to the National Cancer Institute. The rate of cancer incidence has been relatively stable since the mid-1990s.
One in six men will be diagnosed with cancer of the prostate, the walnut-sized gland under the male bladder that contributes to making semen. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just one in 33 will die from the disease.
