This essay discusses Prostate Cancer, its preventive services and treatment options. Prostate Cancer is very rampant in the United Kingdom as more than 40,000 men contract prostate cancer in America every year. The physiological changes associated with Prostate Cancer become recognizable when a person’s prostate swells and affects his urethra. People diagnosed with Prostate Cancer are always frequent urinators and they always experience difficulties while urinating (Srivastava, McLeod, Petrovics, & Farell, 2013). However, the above symptoms might also be a sign that a person has contracted Benign Prostatic.
When Screening for Prostate Cancer, doctors measure serum PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) amounts in a person’s body. Factors such as age affect the PSA test because a man’s body contains more PSA as he grows older. Therefore it is hard to apply PSA tests on young people because they have very little amounts od PSA in their bodies. Therefore, many nurses use PSA test on older men because it is easy to detect cancer as they have large amounts of PSA (Isaacs & Denmeade, 2014). For example, many nurses reveal that PSA-based screening detects tumours that grow slowly or that may fail to grow.
The doctor might also carry out a ultrasonography or a digital rectal examination. In the rectal examination, the practitioner inserts a finger into the patient’s rectum in search for lumps. However, the rectal examination only works when there is a big swelling in the rectum. The combination of the PSA test and rectal exam makes it easier to detect prostate cancer (Isaacs & Denmeade, 2014). The main goal of screening is to lessen the number of deaths that occur as a result of prostate cancer because screening prevents the chances for development of metastatic disease. The age that a person is to be screened for prostate cancer varies with the ethnic group, for instance, screening tests commence earlier in African-American men than Caucasian American men because African American men have a high rate of cancer growth and therefore prostate cancer kills them faster than the Caucasian American men.
Many doctors mostly use Chemotherapy whereby they use drugs such as Docetaxel, Cabazitaxel, Mitoxantrone, and Estramustine: these drugs destroy developing cancer cells. These drugs can be taken orally or injected into a vein (Chodak, 2017). Chemotherapy is mostly used to treat prostate cancer that has spread throughout a man’s body and it is also used for prostate cancer that is immune to hormone therapy. Biological therapy also known as immunotherapy is also applied by nurses to treat prostate cancer (D’ Amico, 2016). The most used type of biological therapy is sipuleucel -T, which was formulated with the purpose of eliminating recurrent prostate cancer.
The above drug treatment options are effective in treating cancer but they have several side-effects. For instance, apart from attacking cancer cells, the drugs used in chemotherapy also attack cells in the mouth, bone marrow, and in the digestive system which leads to side-effects such as hair loss, diarrhea, mouth sores, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, low immunity, and overfatigue to profuse bleeding. Docetaxel and Cabazitaxel cause allergies and Mitoxantrone can cause Leukemia.
Biological Therapy also considered the safest treatment, also causes some side effects such as lack of appetite, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea. Because, biological therapy is given through injections, the injection spot sometimes becomes sore and itchy. It can also result in vein inflammation. A patient can experience chills three to six hours after the injection: these chills might cause the body temperatures and blood pressure to rise beyond the normal range.
The side-effects of these treatments might sometimes become chronic and reduce a person’s quality of life. Many practitioners stop or change treatment methods when such situations occur. However, studies reveal that the benefits of treatment outweigh the side-effects and therefore people with prostate cancer must not avoid treatment just because they are afraid of the side-effects of prostate cancer medication.
References
Chodak, G. (2017). Prostate Cancer Treatment & Management. Medscape. Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1967731-treatment
