Treatment Options
at St. Anthony's
Radical prostatectomy
Nerve-sparing prostatectomy
Radiation therapy
Intensity modulated, image-guided external beam radiation therapy
Brachytherapy (radiation seed implants)
The Decision
Treatments for Prostate Cancer
Cancer specialists look at both the grade and stage of prostate cancer, as well as a patient’s own medical history, age and current health,
in determining the best options for treatment.
Stage — What a doctor feels or sees through a rectal exam, imaging scans and tissue biopsies. Staging describes the size and location of the cancer.
Grade — Based upon a 5-point Gleason score, the grade indicates how likely the cancer will spread. To calculate a total Gleason score, two growth areas typically are graded separately and scores are then combined. A total score of 6 is determined in the majority of prostate cancer cases.
Surgery
The surgical standard for prostate cancer is radical prostatectomy to remove the prostate gland and some surrounding tissue.
“This is typically an option for healthy men under age 70 whose cancer is confined to the prostate and who have a low Gleason score,” says urologist Robert Feit, MD.
“Research shows that 80 percent of these men will have no evidence of recurrence five years after surgery.” Nerve-sparing radical prostatectomies are another option. The procedure avoids specific nerves that run alongside the prostate, reducing the risk of impotency. Both procedures are available at St. Anthony’s Heart and Surgical Pavilion.
Radiation Options
The Cancer Care Center at St. Anthony’s Medical Center is equipped with two state-of-the-art linear accelerators that provide radiation treatments for prostate and other cancers. For optimal accuracy in targeting multiple radiation beams as well as the exact amount of radiation required for each patient, St. Anthony’s radiation oncologists use computerized Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) coupled with Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) to plan customized radiation dose distribution.
“We also have advanced technology called On-Board Imaging, which is an X-ray and imaging system connected directly to our linear accelerators,” says Eric Sutphen, MD, director of radiation oncology at St. Anthony’s. “This makes daily diagnostic imaging possible before, during and after treatments to ensure that the high dose radiation beams we use are targeted directly at cancerous cells and not healthy surrounding tissue.” Brachytherapy also is available. Radiation oncologists and surgeons implant radiation seeds directly into the prostate gland, fighting cancer from the inside.
For information, please call our Health Access Line at 314-ANTHONY (268-4669) or 800-554-9550
or visit find a physician online.
At St. Anthony’s, our vision is to be the area’s premier health care organization
— and your first choice for health care services.
