Prisma Health Magazine

PRISMA HEALTH MAGAZINE

patients. The procedure delivers high doses of radiation to the prostate with a high degree of accuracy and precision. Patients treated with SBRT only need five treatments of approximately 20 minutes each, compared with other courses of as many as 40 to 45 treatments over eight to nine weeks, Dr. McTyre said. “We follow the PSA long-term after treatment,” he said, “and when patients get 10, 15 years out and the PSA has dropped to a low value and is not increasing, we know they are probably cured.” As he looks back, Allan focuses on what the disease taught him, especially about instilling hope in other cancer patients. “A lot of them are so scared – cancer scares them half to death,” Allan said. “I tell them if you believe in a higher being, like God, and if you have faith, you can go through anything. Cancer is not a death sentence.” Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that this year there will

“I know of no study that’s been able to show conclusively that there are higher rates of recurrence with one way or the other,” he said of open surgery versus robotic surgery. “The biggest advantage of the robot is that you get quicker recovery and less blood loss.” The major possible side effects of radical prostatectomy are urinary incontinence – being unable to control urination – and erectile dysfunction, according to the Cancer Society. Those can also occur with other forms of treatment, including radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to kill cancer cells. The main two types are external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy, also called seed implantation. “In most cancers, there’s one proven best treatment depend- ing on the type of cancer and the stage,” said Dr. Collins, a Charleston physician who treats cancer with radiation therapy at Trident Medical Center. “For prostate cancer, you have either surgery or radiation therapy. And the reason you have those options is that they’re equally effective.” Technological advances have yielded new, improved radi- ation treatments in the last 10 years, Dr. Collins said. One is intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, an advanced form of 3D therapy. It is the most common type of external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer and allows doctors to deliver an even higher dose to the cancer. Dr. Emory McTyre, a radiation oncologist with Prisma Health in Greenville, advocates a technology called SBRT – stereo- tactic body radiation therapy – as an option for appropriate

be about 174,650 new cases, and 31,620 peo- ple will die of the disease. But the Cancer Society said more than 2.9 million U.S. men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive. PROSTATE CANCER By the Numbers

Prostate cancer develops mainly in older men and in African-American men. About 6 CASES IN 10 are diagnosed in men 65 OR OLDER , and it is rare before AGE 40 . The average age at the time of diagnosis is ABOUT 66.

Prostate cancer begins when cells in the prostate gland start to grow UNCONTROLLABLY . ALMOST ALL prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas. These cancers develop from the gland cells. About 1 MAN IN 9 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime.

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About 1 MAN IN 41 will die of prostate cancer.

Source: American Cancer Society

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