Prostate cancer often grows slowly. Your care team may decide to watch how it progresses before they recommend treatment. This is called monitoring or active surveillance.

You may not need treatment if:

• Your cancer is small and not spreading.
• You are older, and treatment might lead to other health issues.
• You are considered at low risk for the cancer to advance.

If you do need treatment, the 博彩网站 Knight Cancer Institute can treat all types of prostate cancer. Your care team will work with you to create a custom plan based on:

• How much cancer is in your body
• Whether it has spread
• How quickly it is growing
• The genetic makeup of your cancer
• Whether your cancer resists certain treatments

A nurse navigator will answer your questions and arrange your visits. These may include visits where you see many specialists in one day.

Focal therapy

Focal therapy targets and kills prostate cancer cells without surgery or radiation. It is most often used with patients whose prostate cancer has not spread.

At 博彩网站, focal therapy is done with:

• Sound waves. This is called high-intensity focused ultrasound or HIFU.
• Electrical pulses. This is called nanoknife therapy.

You may be offered focal therapy as an alternative to surgery or radiation. Focal therapy can be repeated. You can still have surgery, radiation or other treatments later if needed.

Hormone therapy

Some hormones in the body help prostate cancer cells grow. Hormone therapy lowers the level of these hormones.

Patients get hormone therapy as shots, pills or small implants under the skin.

You may get hormone therapy:

• Before other treatments, to shrink the tumor or lower the risk of cancer coming back
• After other treatments, to destroy cancer that remains or has come back
• By itself, to treat cancer that can’t be removed with surgery

Hormone therapy doesn’t work for everyone. It can become less effective if the cancer stops responding to the therapy.

Surgery is most helpful when cancer is only in the prostate gland. Doctors remove some or all of the prostate. Sometimes they also remove nearby lymph nodes.

Robotic surgery: This is the most common way to remove prostate tissue. Our team has done thousands of surgeries, more than any other center in Oregon.

Robotic surgery offers:

• The best chance to save nerves and erectile function
• Less risk of side effects
• Less scarring and faster recovery

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy uses beams of energy to shrink or get rid of tumors. You may have radiation instead of or after surgery.

Calypso radiation therapy: This uses tiny sensors placed in the prostate to guide radiation therapy. This approach protects healthy tissue and nearby organs. We were the first center in Oregon to offer Calypso and have treated hundreds of patients with it.

IMRT radiation therapy: This uses computers to create a 3D map of your tumor.  We can then give you higher doses of radiation that target the cancer and avoid healthy tissue.

Brachytherapy: This targets prostate cancer from inside the gland.  

• Low-dose brachytherapy: Small radioactive seeds are placed in the prostate. They emit painless doses of radiation over several weeks or months.
• High-dose brachytherapy: Radioactive material is placed in the prostate for a short time. This treatment may be repeated.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses medications to stop cancer from growing. It is typically used when prostate cancer is more advanced and:

• Hormone therapy is less effective.
• The cancer has spread to lymph nodes.
• The cancer has spread to bones.

 Chemo is usually given by mouth (pill or liquid) and an IV drip.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy uses medications that help your immune system recognize and destroy cancer.

Medications include Keytruda, also called pembrolizumab. It can be used for some patients with certain types of advanced prostate cancer. Clinical trials at the Knight helped show this drug’s benefit. It’s given by IV.

We are studying other ways to use immunotherapy to treat prostate cancer. Learn more about our clinical trials.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy uses medications that home in on cancer cells and avoid healthy tissue.

Medications called PARP inhibitors are used for advanced prostate cancer that:

• Has not responded to hormone therapy
• Has certain gene changes

PARP inhibitors are given as pills. They are usually used with hormone therapy.

Nuclear medicine

Nuclear medicine uses drugs called radiopharmaceuticals that seek out and destroy cancer cells.

Nuclear medicine is used when cancer has spread outside the prostate. This treatment can reduce pain or prolong life.

In 2022, the FDA approved a radiopharmaceutical named Pluvicto for an aggressive type of prostate cancer. The approval was based on research at the Knight and other places.

Clinical trials

As Oregon’s only academic health center, 博彩网站 leads research to prevent, find, treat and manage prostate cancer. We offer clinical trials to test therapies for every stage. Your care team will let you know if a trial is right for you.

Support services

The Knight offers a range of support services for patients and families, including:

• Prostate Cancer Support Group: Meet other patients and get counseling, emotional support and information. Family members are welcome. This group meets online from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. Contact: Cat Christ, 503-346-0548 or christc@ohsu.edu.
• Prostate Cancer Friend-to-Friend Program: Talk with volunteers who may have similar experiences. Call: 503-494-6117.

Learn more

• Prostate Cancer Treatment, National Cancer Institute
• Treating Prostate Cancer, American Cancer Society