| Advanced Prostate Cancer Sufferers Could Soon Be Able To Enjoy A Brief Chemo Holiday |
Where prostate cancer moves out of the prostate and reached into other areas of the body it is said to be advanced prostate cancer and treatment is far more difficult than when the disease is confined to the prostate gland.
Provided prostate cancer has not spread too far and is not too aggressive it is still possible not just to treat it but in fact to cure it. However, in many cases where the disease is widespread, or is especially aggressive, treatment is a matter of simply slowing the progress of the disease and providing you with the best quality of life possible.
Nowadays one of the chief treatments for cases of advanced prostate cancer is intravenous chemotherapy frequently using a drug known as docetaxal. Docetaxal is a particularly effective drug for a lot of patients and does indeed slow the progress of prostate cancer and extend the life of many patients. Nevertheless, it does have a number of side effects that include such things as nausea, loss of appetite, hair loss and a greater risk of infection. As a result it is here that we come across one of the biggest problems in advanced prostate cancer treatment.
If you are treating a disease that cannot be cured and that will kill you sooner or later, then lengthening your life by holding back the progress of the disease is good provided that treatment gives you a reasonable quality of life and does not leave you feeling that the treatment is worse than the cancer itself.
For many prostate cancer sufferers, who are often in their 60s or older, chemotherapy is hardly pleasant but is a price that is worth paying when they first begin their treatment. However, as time goes by and the side effects begin to build the picture frequently changes and a lot of patients begin to question whether it is worth it. Of course this is never a simple question to answer and must be the subject of a very personal discussion between yourself, your family and your physician.
Many of us will be familiar with this scenario either as a result of our own personal experience with illness or through our experience of seeing family members of close friends in this situation and know well just how difficult a time it can be.
There may however be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel as studies involving a group of patients with metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer suggest that a lot of patients may be able to take a 'chemo holiday' without any significant detriment to their treatment. Put another way, following a number of weeks of chemo, and when the side effects are really staring to get you down, you may be able to stop your chemotherapy for a time and let your body recover a bit before carrying on with your treatment.
Now it is of course early days yet and nobody is quite sure yet just how long a 'chemo holidays' could be or how frequently you can take them, but for a significant number of advanced prostate cancer sufferers this apparently minor advance in treatment could make all the difference in the world.
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Article Source: UnArchived Articles
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