Cancer is undoubtedly the worst of all diseases that can happen to a human being. The way that it is treated can be just as harmful to the sufferer, while doctors promise it will cure them of the disease. Some humans don’t have the energy or soul to undergo the treatments and come out of it just as successfully, and due to that factor, many people even lose their lives in the process of recovery. Although there are many different types of cancers that our bodies can develop, the worst is definitely prostate cancer which is seen only in men.

What is Prostate Cancer?

Existing only in the male reproductive system, the prostate is a gland that has the job of creating or making semen that is responsible for carrying out sperms. The prostate is as large as a walnut and is positioned just under the bladder, coating the upper part of the urethra. The rate of prostate cancer in Australian men alone is significantly high, although it is rarely seen in men under the age of 50.

Once the cancer is developed, it grows rather slowly and oftentimes, shows no symptoms to warn the victim, until it reaches the advanced stages. So much so, men who have prostate cancer are sometimes not even aware that they have the condition until their deaths. However, in the advanced stages, the growth of prostate cancer can accelerate and, in some cases, even spread to parts other than the prostate, such as the lymph nodes, bones or lungs. When this occurs, the cancer cannot be treated or removed completely, but it can be controlled for a certain time.

What is the Most Efficient Treatment for Prostate Cancer?

Although the main cause of prostate cancer is still not known to this day by even the most skilled and educated doctors, they have found treatments that can effectively cure prostate cancer. One such treatment used is radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Not only does radiation therapy show positive results, even research has confirmed that the treatment is 95{e57abf90b25f0e28dca92805c8cf341aff0dcbac27f9aa5bc97ee118adb86dfa} effective.

What is Radiation Therapy?

In the process of radiation therapy, high-energy radiation is used in order to shrink the tumours, thus killing cancer cells and diminishing the cancer from the body. Gamma rays, charged particles and X-rays are popular types that are used in the radiation therapy. There are three ways through which the therapy is conducted:

• Brachytherapy or Internal Radiation Therapy: The first way is by placing the radioactive material inside the body, in close proximity of the cancer cells.
• External Beam Radiation Therapy: The second way is by inducing the radiation through a machine.
• Systematic Radiation Therapy: This way makes use of radioactive substances that are placed into the blood, which then travel in the bloodstream and kill off the cancer cells. An example of radioactive substances is radioactive iodine.