During radiation therapy, radioactive particles or rays are used to destroy prostate cancer that hasn’t spread beyond the prostate. At NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, this type of treatment may be used to manage cancers confined to the prostate and surrounding tissues.
Radiation therapy may be recommended as an alternative to prostatectomy in certain situations.
If you do have surgery, and PSA test results indicate a rise in PSA levels after surgery, salvage radiation therapy may be used to eliminate remaining cancer cells. It is also used if cancer returns after treatments.
Our radiation oncologists use image-guided radiation therapy to treat some men with prostate cancer. This type of therapy uses daily CT scans to target tumors with precise doses of radiation in less than two minutes—much faster than traditional types of radiation therapy.
For some men, our radiation oncologists use image-guided radiation therapy to deliver precise radiation doses to prostate cancer in less than two minutes.
As a result, the risk of damage to surrounding tissue is minimized. This is especially important in the treatment of the prostate, which shifts each day as the bladder, located next to the prostate, fills and empties.
Side effects of this type of radiation therapy tend to be minimal and may include fatigue and an increase in urination or bowel movements. Your doctors can help you manage these effects, if they happen.
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