After a diagnosis of prostate cancer, your first step toward treatment is to become an informed patient. Your doctor might recommend that you undergo one or several types of hormone therapy. This is also called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) or androgen suppressive therapy. Because the cancer cells use testosterone to thrive and spread, the end…
Weight gain is a side effect of hormone therapy and an unfortunate effect that patients and doctors need to be aware of. Men who undergo radical prostatectomy and who use hormone therapy as their follow-up treatment are at risk for gaining a significant amount of weight during their first year post surgery. A multicenter study…
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a treatment for prostate cancer that has spread outside the gland. It is also called hormone therapy or chemical castration. The purpose of ADT is to reduce the production of male hormones, especially testosterone, which has the effect of temporarily halting the ability of prostate cancer cells to multiply and…
An orchiectomy, or surgical castration, is a type of surgery for prostate cancer, but it’s also a hormone therapy because the end goal is to manipulate a man’s hormones in order to stop the spread of cancer. What is orchiectomy? An orchiectomy is the surgical removal of the testicles. Typically, for prostate cancer, both of…
Use of intermittent hormone therapy for prostate cancer is a common practice because treatment is associated with significant side effects, and going off the drug occasionally helps men get relief from those adverse effects. However, a new study shows men get the most benefit from continuous hormone therapy rather than intermittent therapy. Men who undergo hormone…
One of the common ways to treat advanced prostate cancer is by significantly reducing the levels of sex hormones, especially testosterone, using hormone therapy. However, this approach is associated with some troubling adverse effects, which may be successfully addressed if men choose some natural ways to reduce hormone therapy side effects. What are the side…
