What Happens During Chemotherapy for Prostate Cancer

How often you get chemotherapy treatments depends on the type of chemotherapy that you will receive. The type of chemotherapy you receive often depends on the size of your tumor and how fast it is spreading.

You may take the drugs in pill form or by a needle attached to a tube that allows the drugs to drip slowly into your veins, called an intravenous drip. If you have the drugs given intravenously, you will have to go to an outpatient clinic. These treatments can last several hours each.

There are several drugs to choose from. Your doctor may recommend more than one to take together. Sometimes this works better. With your chemotherapy drugs, your doctor may also recommend that you take a steroid, such as prednisone, to ease bone pain. The following chemotherapy drugs are typically used to treat advanced prostate cancer. They may be used alone or in combination.

• Taxotere (docetaxel)

• Emcyt (estramustine)

• Novantrone (mitoxantrone)

• Paraplatin (carboplatin)

• Taxol (paclitaxel)

• Velban (vinblastine)

• VePesid (etoposide)