The Goal of Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Radiation treatment is also called radiotherapy. Its goal is to use radiation to kill or shrink cancer cells. If you have early-stage prostate cancer, radiation can be as effective as surgery to cure your cancer. Stage I or II is considered an early stage. If your cancer has spread beyond your prostate and the nearby areas, your doctor may use radiation to shrink the cancer and ease symptoms.

There are 2 ways to get radiation.

• External radiation comes from a machine. This is sometimes called EBRT, which stands for external-beam radiation therapy.

• Internal radiation is when a radioactive material is placed inside you. It’s put directly into, or near, the tumor. With prostate cancer, this is called interstitial seed placement. It’s also called brachytherapy.Brachy means “near” and refers to how close the radiation is to your tumor.

You may get only one of these types of radiation, or both of them.

If your cancer has spread to areas near your prostate, your radiation oncologist may choose to add hormone therapy to external radiation. You may start hormone treatment before getting radiation. Then the treatments will end at the same time. Or your hormone treatment may start at the same time as your external radiation treatment and continue after radiation ends.