If you’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer, your doctor will discuss different treatment options depending on the stage of your illness. One of these options is cryotherapy where a medical professional uses special equipment to freeze and kill the cancerous cells. While it can be effective, it’s not the right treatment for everybody so it’s good for you to know what it entails.
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Cryotherapy is a treatment that uses specific gases to freeze cancer cells. Once frozen, the cancerous cells can’t function properly so they die. When they thaw, the dead cells are then absorbed by the body. During the procedure, small needles are placed into the tumor. The placement of the needles is guided by an ultrasound. Argon gas is then pushed through the needles and there’s an exchange with Helium gas. This exchange causes a freezing and warming cycle that is characteristic of cryotherapy. The freezing is contained by inserting a warming catheter into the urethra.
As mentioned previously, cryotherapy isn’t for everyone so your doctor will have to determine if you’re a good candidate for the treatment. The first incidence where your doctor might recommend cryotherapy is if you’re in the early stages of the disease. At this point, the cancerous cells won’t have spread yet and may be confined to the prostate. It can be particularly effective if the tumor is still small. If the tumor is larger, you may still be a good candidate if the cells haven’t spread.
Another time your doctor might recommend cryotherapy is if your cancer has returned after undergoing treatment previously. Generally, when cancer returns, doctors tend to focus on acting as quickly as possible to curb the potential spread of cancerous cells. For some people, this may mean using a focused treatment like cryotherapy or more aggressive broad options like chemotherapy.
Cryotherapy may also work for you if you’re not well enough to undergo surgery or more strenuous treatment like radiation or chemotherapy. Additionally, if you already had radiation or chemotherapy but they weren’t enough to treat your cancer, cryotherapy might be able to help.
On the other hand, some issues might prevent you from being recommended as a candidate for cryotherapy. If you had surgery for rectal or anal cancer, have any health conditions that would make it difficult to monitor the needle placement with an ultrasound machine, or have a large tumor that can’t be treated with cryotherapy without damaging surrounding tissue or organs, it’s unlikely that your doctor will recommend cryotherapy as a treatment option for you.
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Before undergoing your procedure, your doctor may give you an enema to completely empty your colon. You may also receive antibiotics to reduce your likelihood of an infection. The procedure is usually done in a hospital. Where anesthesia is concerned, your doctor may opt for a general one where you’ll be unconscious for the entire procedure, or a regional one that will only numb the treatment area. With the latter form of anesthesia, you’ll be completely aware of your surroundings. It’s best to discuss which one you prefer with your doctor before it’s time for treatment.
Once the anesthesia is working, the doctor places an ultrasound probe in your rectum. The catheter with a warming solution will then be placed inside your urethra to carry urine out of your body as well as protect the urethra from freezing while you’re being treated. Following that, they will place several thin metal needles into the area between your scrotum and anus to access the prostate.
Using the ultrasound probe, your doctor will ensure that the needles are in the right place. Once this is done, the gas will be released to circulate through the needles to freeze the cancerous tissue. Your doctor will then continue to monitor the location and temperature of the needles to control the freezing so they can treat all the affected tissue. When the doctor is satisfied with the success of the cryotherapy procedure, they may insert a catheter through your lower abdomen as a way to help with draining urine after treatment.
As long as things go well, it’s likely that your doctor will send you home on the same of your procedure. If they want to observe you a little longer, you may have to stay overnight. Regardless of when you leave, the catheter may still stay in place for up to two weeks so you can heal. You should also be given a prescription for antibiotics to prevent an infection.
While you’re healing, you may notice soreness and bruising in the areas where the needles were placed. You may also see blood in your urine or have problems emptying your bowel or bladder. These issues should last for a few days, though, so you should call your doctor immediately if they persist.
Though it’s imperative to start treatment as soon as possible after a diagnosis, you should never jump into any procedure without knowing what you’re dealing with. That’s why it’s important to have a list of questions to ask your doctor so you’re on the same page with your treatment. The first step is to ask your doctor what makes you a good candidate for cryotherapy. That should be followed by questions about the different types of cryotherapy that are available and which one will be right for you.
You should ask them what to expect while doing the procedure and what your recovery might be like. If there’s anything you need to do to be prepared for the procedure, you need to know that, as well. Every procedure has risks so you need to ask your doctor about the potential side effects of cryotherapy. Some of them include bleeding, infection, blockage of the urethra, loss of bladder control, swelling in the scrotum and penis, rectum injury, and erectile dysfunction. You should ask how these will be managed if they occur and what will be in place to lower your risk of developing them.
Finally, you should ask your doctor what the next steps will be after you’ve done the treatment. Generally, doctors choose to monitor their patients to see if the treatment has been effective so you should know the details of what that will look like for you.
Cryotherapy can be an effective treatment for many people who’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, it’s not for everyone. You should talk to your doctor about whether or not it will work for you.
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