Prostate Cancer

Hormone Therapy

Male sex hormones make prostate cancers grow faster. The most common way to treat advanced prostate cancer is to cut off the supply of these hormones. About 75 percent of men with advanced prostate cancer choose this form of treatment. Hormone therapy uses drugs to stop the body from producing most male sex hormones or block hormones from getting into cancer cells. Sometimes a combination of drugs is used to do both.

Hormone therapy is so effective at shrinking tumors that it is being used in combination with surgery and radiation in some early-stage cancers. The hormones shrink large tumors so that surgery or radiation can destroy them more easily. After these treatments, the drugs can help kill stray cells left behind at the tumor site.

Surgically removing the testicles (bilateral orchiectomy) to prevent testosterone production was once the standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Today, hormone-blocking drugs have reduced the need for testicular surgery by providing what amounts to chemical castration.