What to Know About Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Hormone treatment is one way to treat prostate cancer. It does not cure it.

Prostate cancer needs male hormones such as testosterone to grow. Hormone treatment cuts off the supply of these hormones. Without them, the tumor shrinks and cancer cells slow down their growth.

Your doctor may suggest hormone treatment if one of the cases below is true for you.

• You have early-stage prostate cancer - and you can't have surgery or radiation. And you don't want to do watchful waiting.

• You're planning to have surgery or radiation treatment. Having hormone treatment before other treatments can sometimes help shrink the tumor. A smaller tumor is easier to treat.

• You have prostate cancer that is locally advanced - it has grown outside of the prostate and is therefore less likely to be cured with local treatments such as surgery or radiation. Combining radiation and hormone therapy in these cases has been shown to be better than local treatment alone.

• You have a tumor that has spread beyond your prostate to distant parts of your body.

• You've had a rise in your PSA level after you've had surgery or radiation, and the doctor isn't sure where the cancer has recurred or it has recurred in a distant part of the body. Hormone treatment can help slow the growth of the cancer if it is coming back.