About Advanced Prostate Cancer
What Is Advanced Prostate Cancer?
Prostate cancer is considered advanced if it has spread outside the prostate gland to other parts of the body. This is also called metastatic prostate cancer.
If your prostate-specific antigen (PSA)A protein made by the prostate gland and by prostate cancer. A test for PSA is often used to screen for prostate cancer and to monitor some treatments for the disease. levels begin to rise while on hormone therapy, your cancer may have become advanced prostate cancer.
Therapies for the Different Stages of Prostate Cancer
The chart below shows the therapeutic options for prostate cancer over the different stages of the disease. See below for more information on each stage.
After the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer, some men may be treated with surgery to remove the prostate while others may be treated with radiation therapy. Radiation therapy can be given through external beam radiation, radioactive seeds, or a combination of both.
After surgery or radiation therapy, your PSA levels are monitored. If your PSA levels begin to rise, the cancer may be coming back. At this point, your doctor may recommend hormone therapy. There are many different kinds of hormone therapy and you may receive one kind or several kinds, depending on what your doctor determines is best for you. As a result of hormone therapy, your PSA levels should remain low.
If your PSA levels start to rise while on hormone therapy, you may be hormone refractoryCancer that does not respond to hormone treatment or that gets worse while being treated with hormone therapy.. In addition, if the cancer has spread outside the prostate gland, you may have metastaticSpread from the original location to other parts of the body; in prostate cancer, cancer that has spread from the prostrate to places such as the bones. disease. This may mean that the prostate cancer has become advanced. Your doctor may choose immunotherapy, such as PROVENGE, if you have few or no prostate cancer pain-related symptoms. For men who have significant cancer-related pain, chemotherapy is an option.
After one type of chemotherapy, a different type of chemotherapy or a different hormone therapy are options.
This is not a complete list of prostate cancer treatments. Please talk to your doctor about what treatment options may be best for you.
Next: What Is PROVENGE?
PROVENGE is made from your own immune cells. Your cells will be collected at a cell collection center approximately 3 days before
each scheduled infusion of PROVENGE. There can be risks associated with the cell collection process, which you should discuss with
your doctor before deciding to begin treatment with PROVENGE.
PROVENGE can cause serious reactions. In controlled clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer, serious reactions
reported in patients in the PROVENGE group include reactions resulting from the infusion of the drug, which occurred within 1
day of infusion, and strokes. Severe infusion reactions included chills, fever, fatigue, weakness, breathing problems (shortness
of breath, decreased oxygen level, and wheezing), dizziness, headache, high blood pressure, muscle ache, nausea, and vomiting.
Tell your doctor right away if you have breathing problems, chest pains, racing heart or irregular heartbeats, dizziness, nausea,
or vomiting after getting PROVENGE because any of these may be signs of heart or lung problems.
The most common side effects reported with PROVENGE are chills, fatigue, fever, back pain, nausea, joint ache, and headache. These
are not all the possible side effects of PROVENGE treatment. For more information, talk with your doctor.
Tell your doctor about all your medical problems including heart problems, lung problems or a history of stroke.
Tell your doctor right away if you get a fever over 100°F, or redness at the cell collection or infusion sites,
because any of these may be signs of infection.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription drugs, vitamins, and dietary supplements.
Tell your doctor about any side effect that concerns you or does not go away.
For more information on PROVENGE, please see the Full Prescribing Information or
call Dendreon ON Call at 1-877-336-3736.