Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Treatment in Southern California

After a prostate cancer diagnosis, choosing a treatment plan is the next step to a timely cure. There are several treatment options for prostate cancer at Dignity Health Southern California hospitals. Your doctor will help you choose the best option while considering your overall wellbeing.

Our goal is to cure the cancer, slow its growth, or improve the quality of your life. 

Find a Doctor today and talk to specialists who are experts at prostate cancer treatment in Long Beach, Northridge, Downtown LA, Glendale, or San Bernardino.

Treating Prostate Cancer at Dignity Health Southern California

Your stage of prostate cancer determines which treatment option will be the most effective. Depending on the cancer’s aggressiveness, your doctor may suggest one of these treatments.

Watchful Waiting

If the tumor is small and slow growing, your doctor may closely monitor the tumor for any changes. During this monitoring period, called watchful waiting, your doctor will watch symptoms, take a PSA test, or perform biopsies.

Radiation Treatment

During radiation therapy, your doctor will surgically implant small, radioactive seeds directly into the prostate gland to kill the tumor. Radiation therapy is often used with hormone therapy to cure cancer that has spread, or to kill any remaining cancer cells after surgery. In most cases, radiation therapy is just as effective as surgery.

Hormone Therapy

Male hormones called androgens causes the growth of tumors in the prostate. Hormone therapy reduces the level of androgens, which helps the tumor to grow slowly or shrink. Your doctor may use hormone therapy to shrink the tumor before surgery and to decrease the chances of it returning. Hormone therapy is also a good option for people who cannot have surgery or radiation therapy.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy kills cancer cells by freezing them. Your doctor may recommend cryotherapy if the cancer returns after radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy might be your doctor’s treatment option for you if hormone therapy doesn’t work, or if the cancer comes back after radiation therapy.

Surgery

Surgery to remove the entire prostate gland is a treatment option if the tumor has not spread outside of the prostate.

Cancer Vaccine

Sipuleucel-T, a cancer vaccine, is an immunotherapy drug commonly used to kill cancer. The vaccine helps the body fight the cancerous cells by boosting the immune system. Your doctor may recommend a cancer vaccine to treat advanced stages of prostate cancer.

What to Expect from Prostate Cancer Treatment

Your treatment for prostate cancer will depend on several factors, including the cancer’s characteristics and the effectiveness of the treatment. Your doctor at a Dignity Health Southern California hospital will also consider your personal preference to provide you with the most personalized treatment. Sometimes, more than one type of treatment is combined for the best results. Schedule an appointment to learn more about each type of treatment, its side effects, benefits, and risks. 

Doctors at Dignity Health combine knowledge, expertise, and humankindness to treat prostate cancer in Southern California.