Prostate disease and the pharmaceutical industry

Prostate Cancer

Treatment of locally advanced and metastatic disease

By ‘locally advanced’, doctors mean that the tumour has spread from the prostate but not as far as the lymph nodes (small glands which form part of the immune system) or reached distant organs. It is the equivalent of early stage 3.

Most people with a tumour at this stage will not be suitable for surgery or radiotherapy and other options have to be considered. In a very elderly or infirm man, he and his family may feel it is preferable to do nothing (i.e. watchful waiting), but provide proper care and control of any troublesome symptoms. This approach is possible, because even when it is locally advanced, the rate of development of the tumour may be so slow that it is not worth risking the adverse effects that might occur from more aggressive treatment.

If watchful waiting is not an acceptable option, the situation is far from hopeless. Most men with locally advanced disease can be successfully managed with either hormone medicines alone or an operation or external beam radiotherapy combined with hormone medicines.