About 250,000 men will be diagnosed with [prostate cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/prostate-cancer) in the US each year. Prostate cancer is the most common cause of death from cancers of the bladder, rectum, stomach or colon and the third most common cause of death by cancer.
Prostate cancer commonly forms in or between the ages of 70 and 90. It is diagnosed by checking for a lump in the prostate, having been diagnosed with high blood pressure or by other medical tests. It can cause problems with urination and sexual intercourse.
Although the combination of age, family history and sexual dysfunction is widely accepted as being helpful in risk stratification, other factors should also be taken into account, given the heterogeneity of the population, including education-level, ethnicity, marital status and the proportion of men without a previous prostatology procedure. Even when adjusting for many known prognostic factors, the percentage of the percentage of PSA and age-adjusted Gleason score that can be used to predict prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis has been found to be surprisingly low.
For all cancers of the urinary tract, prostate cancer cannot be cured. This applies to patients of all ages and with a range of staging. In the long term, a high proportion of patients with prostate cancer have no symptoms and no evidence of cancer on physical examination. In such cases most treatment is unnecessary.
There isn't a clear pathophysiological cause for [prostate cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/prostate-cancer) despite the possibility of environmental and genetic factors in its development. However, androgens, including testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and other hormones have a role in the development of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer occurs in many tissues, however is most common in the prostate gland, and most commonly in men who have a family history of the disease.
Some prostate cancers can not be treated. They are best treated under the supervision of a prostate cancer specialist. Treatments to prevent other symptoms include medications that can reduce the risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporotic fractures; and exercise.
HDR brachytherapy performed on a routine basis within a multidisciplinary setting can be performed safely. With the potential advantages of short treatment times, low complication rates, and the ability to tailor the treatment to individual needs, HDR brachytherapy continues to provide treatment options to men, many of whom previously had few options.
Hdr brachytherapy is most often used in combination with other treatments and in the treatment of patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. The present findings are in line with data from recent observational studies. However, more randomized-controlled clinical trials are needed.
A number of newer agents are being researched for treating prostate cancer. In addition, there are currently no FDA cleared drugs for treating prostate cancer.\n
Hd-IMT and HDR-IMRT are equivalent in terms of brentzing and toxicity in T1-2N0 tumors. HDR-IMRT could be the preferred treatment option considering similar efficacy, minimal brentzing and toxicity, and better radiobiological properties, compared to LDR-IMRT.
HDR brachytherapy significantly improves some, but not all, aspects of HRQOL in those with localized prostate cancer. Results from a recent clinical trial support further investigation into better therapies incorporating minimally invasive brachytherapy, or other effective local treatments, for patients with localized prostate cancer.
A small selection of patients would be willing to participate in clinical trials if they could help control for the major uncertainties of the outcome of these important and cost-effective treatments. Data from a recent study are potentially more relevant to patient s and their clinicians compared with conventional methods of obtaining and interpreting clinical trial outcome data. A small number of prospective trials are available for the treatment of hormone-responsive prostate cancer. However, the results are generally short-lived and are more likely to be biased by the choice of patients and treatment. The outcome of clinical trials is usually not available earlier than eight weeks after the initial treatment is received; there are few data available on patient satisfaction or satisfaction of the treatment.