Advanced Prostate Cancer Sufferers Could Soon Be Able To Take A Short Chemotherapy Break

As soon as prostate cancer has moved out of the prostate gland and reached into other parts of the body it is said to be advanced prostate cancer and treatment for advanced prostate cancer is far more difficult than treatment when the disease is confined to the prostate.

If your cancer has not spread too widely and is not especially aggressive it is still possible not simply to treat it but in fact to cure it. In many cases however where cancer has spread widely, or is especially aggressive, treatment is a matter of merely holding back the progress of the disease and providing you with the best possible quality of life.

Currently one of the main prostate cancer treatment options for advanced prostate cancer is chemotherapy often using a drug known as docetaxal. Docetaxal is a very effective drug treatment for a lot of people and it does indeed slow the progression of advanced prostate cancer and extend life for a significant number of patients. Nonetheless, it does have some side effects that include things like nausea, loss of appetite, hair loss and an increased risk of infection. Consequently it is here that we come across one of the biggest problems in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

If you are treating a disease which cannot be cured and which will eventually kill you, then lengthening your life by holding back the progression of the disease is good as long as that treatment gives you a reasonable quality of life and does not leave you with the feeling that the treatment is worse than the cancer itself.

For many prostate cancer patients, who are often in their 60s, 70s or even 80s, chemotherapy is not pleasant but is a price that is worth paying when they initially begin their course of treatment. However, as the treatment progresses and the side effects begin to build up the picture frequently changes and many patients start to question whether or not it is all worth it. Naturally this is never a simple question to answer and must be the subject of a very personal discussion between you and your doctor.

A lot of us will be familiar with this situation either through our own experience with illness or as a result of our experience of seeing a family member or close friend in this situation and know well just how hard a time it can be.

There may however be a bit of light at the end of this tunnel as studies involving a group of patients with metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer suggest that many people may be able to take a 'chemo holiday' without significant damage to their treatment. In other words, following several weeks of chemotherapy, and at a time when the side effects are starting to get you down, you might be able to simply stop your chemotherapy for a time and give your body a chance to recover a bit before carrying on with your treatment.

Now it is of course early days yet and nobody is exactly sure yet about just how long a 'chemotherapy holiday' could be or how often you can take one, but for many advanced prostate cancer patients this seemingly small advance in treatment could well make a world of difference.