About this page. This is a plain English summary of how and when chemotherapy is used in prostate cancer. It does not replace medical advice from your own doctor or specialist.
For full information and references, please read the detailed page.
When is chemotherapy used?
Most prostate cancers do not need chemotherapy at the time they are first found. Chemotherapy is used in a particular situation: when the prostate cancer has stopped responding to hormone treatment.
Doctors often call this castration resistant prostate cancer. It means hormone therapy is no longer holding the cancer back as well as it used to.
What chemotherapy does
Chemotherapy uses medications that travel through the bloodstream to slow cancer cells anywhere in the body. For many years, no chemotherapy drug had been shown to help men with advanced prostate cancer live longer. More recent evidence shows that some newer chemotherapy drugs do improve survival in this setting.
Who looks after chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy for prostate cancer is supervised by a medical oncologist, not by the urologist. If chemotherapy is being considered for you, Dr Kooner will help arrange a referral to an oncologist who specialises in prostate cancer.
The urologist and the oncologist usually keep working together as a team. The urologist often continues to look after the urinary side of things while the oncologist runs the chemotherapy.
Other newer treatments
There are also several other types of treatment for advanced prostate cancer that are not chemotherapy in the traditional sense, including newer hormone-type tablets and targeted treatments. These are also looked after by an oncologist. New options are likely to keep coming over the next few years.
Important things to know
- Chemotherapy can cause side effects such as tiredness, hair changes, nausea, lower blood counts, and a higher risk of infection. The exact pattern depends on the drug used.
- Chemotherapy is one option among several for advanced prostate cancer. Other options include further hormone-based tablets and bone protection treatments.
- Chemotherapy is used to slow cancer down and help men live longer and feel better, not as a guaranteed cure for advanced disease.
- Decisions are best made together with both the urologist and a medical oncologist, taking into account your other health problems and what matters most to you.
What you can do next
- Read the full detailed page with references.
- Short version: hormone treatment, which is usually used before chemotherapy.
- Short version overview of treatment options.
- Request a second opinion on an advanced cancer plan.
- Call 02 8382 6980 to make an appointment.