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>> Prostate cancer, a matter of facts on ABC 27 is brought to you by Penn State Milton
S. Hershey Medical Center.
>> Welcome back. We have time for one more of your question. Dr. Drabick, the idea of
having surgery in that part of my body scares me because of potential side effects. Is radiation
or chemotherapy a good option to treat my cancer?
>> It's natural to feel anxiety over such a big decision and for a localized early stage
prostate cancer, radiation therapy and surgery are generally considered equivalent. They
each have their pros and their cons or disadvantages or advantages. They need to be discussed at
length between the patient and his doctor so they can make a rational decision what's
best for him. Chemotherapy has no role for early stage prostate cancer. It's utilize
to patient with metastasis. It's advanced.
>> Okay. Dr. Drabick. Thank you for answering our questions. I wanna thank all of the medical
experts here tonight for answering your question as well and will send it back to you in the
studio, Chuck.
>> Thank you, Debra. The phones till 8 o'clock and joining us now is Dr. Justin Juliano,
a radiation oncologist. Now, were talking about intensity modulated radiation therapy.
That's a mouthful, what's that mean?
>> Well, intensity modulated radiation therapy also referred to as IMRT refers to a technology
that incorporates advancements in both the planning as well as the treatment delivery
of radiation with respect to prostate cancer. IMRT has allowed us as radiation oncologist
to escalate the dose to the prostate gland while minimizing those surrounding normal
structures with improved patient outcomes.
>> Okay. Now, is this therapy, is that a treatment for all prostate patients?
>> Yeah. IMRT is an option among many of--as we've heard available to patients with very
few exceptions who indeed have clinically localized prostate cancer. That said, there
were some patients with locally advanced prostate cancer and it's like the cases you may be
eligible as well as patients who have already previously undergone a radical prostatectomy.
>> How does this type of treatment work?
>> Essentially, what happens is, we have a machine called the linear accelerator that
has sophisticated components to it that allow for varying both the intensity of the beam
as well as the shape of the beam as it exits the head of the machine. At Hershey Medical
Center, excuse, we have--what--we have state of the art RapidArc therapy and RapidArc therapy
refers to a continues arc that's made by the machine around the patient and throughout
the course of that arc we're able to modulate the beam intensity in those rate as well as
the speed of the machine and the opening of the treatment aperture, thus, we're able to
tailor the dose around the prostate gland as well as increase patient treatment or delay--or
increase the patient throughput.
>> Very quickly. What about side effects? That's what the man wants to know.
>> Yes. So, basically, it comes down to the bladder, the rectum as well as the erectile
function. So, it did cause in some cases urinary bother, rectal bother, and in a delayed sense
some men do experienced a decline in their sexual function. However, that said, the majority
of patients actually do quite well with very few side effects.
>> Good. It's good to hear. Thank you Dr. Juliano.
>> Thank you.
>> And thank you for joining us here tonight and thank you to our viewers out there for
sharing your stories and sending in your questions. If you would like more information, or you
like to schedule an appointment at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute call 717-531-8848
and then press option 3 or visit them online. Thank you again for watching tonight and of
course we wish you all good health. Thanks again for calling in. Take care.