What are some of the main medical treatments for prostate cancer?

The treatment selected depends on a variety of factors, including age, comorbidities, expected lifespan, the stage (i.e., the size of the tumor and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body) and grade (i.e., how abnormal the cancer cells and tissue look under a microscope and how quickly the cancer cells are likely to grow and spread) of the cancer, and patient preferences.^[1] Common treatment options include watchful waiting or active surveillance, surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy.

Watchful waiting or active surveillance is typically reserved for older men without symptoms and prostate cancer that isn’t likely to grow or with comorbidities that would affect their immediate lifespan.^[2] Surgery or radiation therapy are used in the early stages of prostate cancer to try and cure the disease.