Exceptional Care for Advanced Prostate Cancer
At Michigan Institute of Urology, we recognize that every prostate cancer patient is unique and deserves a treatment plan personalized to their individual diagnosis. Don’t expect a one-size-fits-all treatment approach. Trust us to recommend the option that is right for you.
What is Advanced Prostate Cancer?
Typically, prostate cancer is slow-growing and unlikely to cause any harm during your lifetime. But sometimes the cancer cells are more aggressive and likely to spread to other areas of the body – often the lymph nodes, bones, and liver. This is advanced or late-stage cancer.
If you or a loved one have recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, please download our comprehensive Prostate Cancer Patient Guide. Informed patients make the best partners in care.
Genetic Testing Can Offer Personalized Results to Help Guide Your Treatment
We recommend that all men with metastatic prostate cancer learn more about Germline and Somatic genetic testing. Genetic counseling is important. Current guidance supports germline testing for all high risk and advanced cancers and somatic testing for metastatic disease.
- Germline Testing: This test provides insight into your overall cancer risk and can inform your family members about their own potential risks. Testing examines your DNA from blood or saliva to identify inherited genetic changes present in all cells of the body. It can guide treatment decisions, such as recommending PARP inhibitors or platinum-based chemotherapy if you have certain germline mutations.
- Somatic Testing: This test can guide treatment decisions by identifying specific mutations within your tumor. It uses tumor tissue or a blood-based liquid biopsy.
What are My Treatment Options?
If you’ve been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, your options are varied at Michigan Institute of Urology.
The current treatments for advanced prostate cancer are listed here. Some of these treatments are only available for a subset of prostate cancer patients exhibiting specific biomarkers. New treatments are always in development. Your MIU physician can explain the most effective treatment options for your individual situation.
- Androgen-Deprivation Therapy / Hormone Therapy: The hormone testosterone is what most prostate cancer cells need to grow. Hormone therapy (also known as androgen deprivation therapy) stops testosterone from being made or from reaching prostate cancer cells. Without its energy source, the cancer slows and potentially shrinks. It can be the right choice at certain stages of prostate cancer, and for different reasons. Ask your doctor if one of these is right for you:
- Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill or slow down the growth of cancer cells. Chemo isn’t standard treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, but it is sometimes recommended if the cancer has spread beyond the prostate gland. It may be used along with hormone therapy.
- Immunotherapy: These treatments stimulate your body’s immune system to find and destroy cancer cells, with advancements that help the body track down more elusive cancer cells. Ask your doctor if one of the following immunotherapies is right for you:
- Targeted Therapy: These therapies cause a disruption in the cancer growth. They target specific cancer cells and destroy them while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Ask your doctor if one of these is right for you:
- Cryotherapy: Also called cryosurgery or cryoablation, this therapy uses very cold temperatures to freeze and kill prostate cancer cells.
- Nanoknife: This minimally invasive therapy precisely targets the prostate tumor with electrical pulses, destroying cells while helping to preserve your quality of life.
Radiation Therapy
- LDR Brachytherapy with Palladium-103: Tiny radioactive seeds containing radioactive isotopes are implanted in your prostate. The seeds emit low dose radiation over several weeks, gradually destroying cancer cells while minimizing damage to nearby tissue.
- Stereotactic body radiation therapy: Delivers high doses of radiation in a small number of treatment sessions – five outpatient sessions on consecutive days or over a two-week period.
- Intensity modulated radiation therapy: Computer-guided radiation is targeted at the cancer cells in daily sessions, over several weeks.
Surgical removal of the prostate: If you will undergo surgery to remove your prostate, Our Guide to Prostate Surgery will help you understand and prepare for the procedure. There are two types:
- Robotic surgery: Minimally invasive surgery is the most common surgical treatment for prostate cancer.
- Open surgery: Prostate removal through a cut in the abdomen or an incision between the prostate and the anus.
Clinical Trials: Thanks to our robust research department, you have access to the newest treatment advances, sometimes before they are available to the public.
Join us! Prostate Cancer Support Group
For prostate cancer survivors and their families.
Where: Town Center Building, 130 Town Center Drive, Suite 101, Troy, MI 48084
When: Second Wednesday of each month, 6 p.m.
No registration needed. Meet other survivors, get your questions answered, learn more about prostate cancer. Join us!