Goal of Hormone Treatment for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer may be sensitive to hormones, meaning that it may need male hormones to grow. Male hormones are called androgens. The goal of hormone treatment is to eliminate or lower the amount of hormones that your testes produce. The most common androgen is testosterone. By reducing its level, your tumor may stop growing or shrink. Hormone treatment will not cure your cancer. It will only slow down its growth.

Most prostate cancers are sensitive to hormones. However; some patients may not respond to the hormone therapy, or their cancer stops responding to the hormone therapy and becomes resistant.

Hormone treatment may be used on its own as a primary treatment. It can also be used as a second form of treatment with surgery or radiation. If it’s used before another treatment, it’s called neoadjuvant therapy. If it’s used after the other treatment, it’s called adjuvant therapy.