Treatment choices

Your treatment options will depend on whether your cancer is contained within the prostate gland (localised), has spread just outside of the prostate (locally advanced) or had spread to other parts of the body (advanced).

You may have a choice of treatments. Your doctor or specialist nurse will explain all your treatment options, and help you to choose the right treatment for you.

The first treatment you have may affect which treatments you can have in the future, if you need further treatment. Speak to your doctor or nurse about this.

Select the stage of your cancer below to see which treatments may be available to you.

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Watchful waiting

Watchful waiting is a way of monitoring prostate cancer that is not causing any symptoms or problems. The aim is to monitor the cancer over the long term because prostate cancer often grows slowly and may not cause you any symptoms or problems in your lifetime.

Surgery: radical prostatectomy

Radical prostatectomy is an operation to remove the prostate gland and the cancer contained within it. You may be suitable for this treatment if your cancer is thought to be contained within the prostate gland and you are otherwise fit and healthy.

External beam radiotherapy

External beam radiotherapy uses high energy X-ray beams to treat prostate cancer. The X-ray beams damage the cancer cells and stop them growing. You may have external beam radiotherapy on its own, or alongside permanent seed brachytherapy or temporary brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy). Or you might have it after surgery.

Hormone therapy

Hormone therapy helps control prostate cancer by stopping the hormone testosterone from reaching the prostate cancer cells. It does not cure cancer but can keep it under control for many months or years. It can also help to manage symptoms. You might have hormone therapy on its own, or with other treatments such as radiotherapy or brachytherapy.

Temporary brachytherapy

Temporary brachytherapy involves inserting a source of high dose-rate radiation into the prostate gland for a few minutes at a time to destroy cancer cells. This is also called high dose rate brachytherapy. You may have this treatment on its own or you together with external beam radiotherapy or hormone therapy.

Clinical trials

A clinical trial is a type of medical research study that aims to find new and improved ways of preventing, diagnosing, treating and controlling illnesses, such as prostate cancer. Clinical trials involve testing new medicines and procedures on people in a controlled and carefully planned way. This is the best way of finding out whether a new treatment is better than the current standard treatment.