Learn how medications can treat prostate cancer

Although prostate cancer impacts thousands of Canadian men every year, new medical advances have led to a variety of options for treating this disease. We'll go over the different drugs available and their benefits and risks.

• Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) is the process of reducing the two androgen hormones in your body or preventing these hormones from reaching existing cancer cells. Since prostate cancer feeds on these androgens, certain medications are usually the best option for reducing them or blocking their access.
• According to the Canadian Cancer Society, approximately 70 to 85 percent of men will respond to ADT medications for a period of time, but they are not a cure.

• One of the more successful classes of drugs for treating prostate cancer are luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogs (also known as LHRH agonists). These drugs help block or prevent a signal from reaching your testicles that tells them to produce more testosterone.
• These drugs include Leuprolide, Triptorelin, Goserelin Acetate, and Histrelin Acetate.
• After taking the above drugs, your testosterone will fall to very low levels, and this may shrink your testicles substantially, even to the point where you can no longer feel them. This action also has a good success rate for halting or reversing prostate cancer, and it is seen as preferable to complete removal of the testicles (castration).
• However, some of LHRH agonists work differently in the body. For example, Degarelix Acetate works as an antagonist, which helps reduce testosterone more quickly and is useful for late stage prostate cancer.
• Abiraterone Acetate actually targets androgens at a cellular level, blocking an enzyme that helps cells produce testosterone. This feature makes the drug especially useful for castrate-resistant prostate cancers.

• Anti-androgens are often utilized for prostate cancer. They work by blocking the receptor to which androgens like testosterone and DHT bind. These drugs include Bicalutamide, Flutamide, and Nilutamide.
• These drugs aren't utilized as frequently as LHRH agonists, as some studies claim that they aren't as effective. However, they're often utilized in conjunction with LHRH drugs or provided before LHRH drugs are offered.
• Ultimately, all of the Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) medications can be paired with other cancer treatments such as radiation therapy, and in some cases this course of action might improve prostate cancer outcomes.

• Chemotherapy utilizes different medications to quickly kill cancer cells, and it's effective in many cases for prostate cancers.
• Chemotherapy can be highly effective at fighting prostate cancer, but there can be serious side effects, including nausea, fever, fatigue, hair loss, and serious long-term side effects like lung damage, infertility, nerve damage, and heart problems.

It can seem daunting to read through complicated medication names and biological processes, but when it comes to your health it's good to be knowledgeable. No matter what, it's important to be informed about the medications you're taking, your chances of success, and the effects that these drugs will have on your body. With the above information, you should have a better idea about which medication therapies you're interested in to beat back this difficult cancer.