Questions to Ask About Prostate Cancer

Absolutely. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, you are likely to have questions to ask your doctor about prostate cancer. While your first inclination may be to “get it out” as soon as possible, there is always time to seek additional opinions and weigh your treatment options with the help of your loved ones. If you’re told there isn’t time to get a second opinion and you feel rushed into surgery, that’s a good reason to look elsewhere. It is important to get a second opinion from an institution that offers all treatment options, like The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

No. We recommend calling the nurse navigator as soon as possible after a diagnosis because it can increase your likelihood of participating in a clinical trial or ensure you are getting the best treatment for your condition. But it is never too late to explore options for treatment at the cancer center.

When researching prostate cancer questions and answers, you’ll find the very latest treatment options are developed, refined and offered to patients first at National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers like The University of Kansas Cancer Center. Our cancer center is 1 of fewer than 60 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers nationwide. Comprehensive designation is the highest level of recognition awarded by the NCI. Patients who receive care at NCI-designated cancer centers have access to the best available treatments, resources and clinical trials and have a 25% greater chance of survival.

It’s important to see specialists who treat your type of cancer day-in and day-out. A urologic oncologist is significantly different from a general surgeon or a general urologist. At The University of Kansas Cancer Center, our urologic oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and pathologists have specialized training in prostate cancer and know what works for each subset of disease type. Your care team may also include a radiologist, dietitian, genetic counselor and others. Our specialists are national and international leaders in prostate cancer treatment. They present lectures at meetings across the country and the globe and have written textbooks on prostate cancer treatment.

Surgery is one option, but there are others. As part of an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center treated by a multidisciplinary prostate team, we offer many treatment options. This includes nonsurgical options, like radiation therapy and hormone treatment. You can discuss those with your nurse navigator and doctors to determine the best course of treatment for your disease.

There are many options for treating prostate cancer. The right treatment plan will be determined by the aggressiveness of the cancer and the patient’s goals and expectations. For early-stage prostate cancer, active surveillance (which involves monitoring the cancer without immediate treatment) may be an option. For patients with more advanced disease, there are different types of surgery and radiation options – including robotic surgery, brachytherapy (radiation seeds) and stereotactic body radiation. If the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, hormone therapy and chemotherapy may be considered. The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the only cancer center in the region to offer all treatment options for prostate cancer – including advanced surgical and radiation techniques and a wide array of clinical trials.

Not all prostate cancers require immediate treatment. If treatment is not advised, we recommend active surveillance and offer a comprehensive active surveillance clinic to guide you through this process. During active surveillance for prostate cancer, our urologic oncologists carefully monitor you for signs of disease progression. Our specialists may suggest active surveillance if your cancer is slow-growing and diagnosed early.

Radiation therapy and focal therapy may be nonsurgical options for you. We are the only center in the region that offers all forms of radiation including standard radiation, proton therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy and brachytherapy (seed therapy). Offering all treatments allows us to personalize the treatment to you. Options include:

• Brachytherapy, often referred to as radiation seeds, is a 1-time outpatient procedure that places radioactive seeds directly into the prostate.
• Proton therapy is the most technologically advanced method to deliver radiation treatment to cancerous tumors available. The University of Kansas Cancer Center began offering proton therapy in May 2022.
• Stereotactic body radiation (SBRT) is a shortened type of treatment that allows patients to complete therapy in about 1 week as compared to 5 to 9 weeks.
• Focal therapy is high-intensity, focused ultrasound. It is a noninvasive ablation treatment for select men with prostate cancer localized to a small region of the prostate. We are the only center in the region offering focal therapy.

Yes, we offer many clinical trials and will assess your eligibility if you are interested. Cancer clinical trials provide access to potential advancements in care and lead to innovations in cancer prevention and treatment. Participating in a clinical trial may offer you access to promising therapies and will contribute to research that can improve care for future cancer patients. Be sure to ask your doctor about prostate cancer clinical trials.

Treatment plans are as unique as the people with prostate cancer. Determining the optimal treatment plan requires a complete understanding of your disease and your goals of care (expectations and acceptance of side effects).

Yes, there can be side effects, but we have many effective treatment options to manage symptoms of hormonal treatment.

Advances in prostate cancer treatment continue. For example, stereotactic body radiation therapy is an advanced form of radiation treatment that can treat early prostate cancer in as little as a week (compared to older treatments that take 9 weeks). The University of Kansas Cancer Center has been offering patients this advanced treatment for several years and has the most experience in the region. Brachytherapy (radiation seeds) may be the most effective form of radiation for more aggressive prostate cancer, and we are the only team offering brachytherapy in the area. There are also newer hormone therapy agents that improve outcomes for cancers that have spread beyond the prostate.

Additionally, most of our prostate surgical procedures are performed robotically. Our urologic oncology surgeons specialize in advanced prostate surgical procedures, including extended lymph node dissections, salvage operations after cancer recurrence and improved quality-of-life approaches. We are one of the only centers in the United States offering the Retzius-sparing prostatectomy, which can dramatically improve urinary control after surgery.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center also offers many clinical trials for early-stage, advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. Our physicians lead some of these national and international clinical trials that continue to advance prostate cancer treatments. We offer genomic testing specific to your prostate cancer to determine which treatment would be most beneficial to you. We are at the forefront of clinical studies with immunotherapy and targeted therapy used for the treatment of prostate cancer.

For some men, their risk of prostate cancer is caused by genetic changes. These genetic changes not only increase their risk of prostate cancer, but also other related cancers. In certain situations, we may recommend genetic testing. Understanding these changes can help in treating you – as the patient – and your family as well. When we evaluate men who have, or are at risk, of prostate cancer, we review your personal and family cancer histories to identify if genetic testing would be helpful in your care.

Anyone at high risk for prostate cancer may benefit from genetic counseling and testing. Those at high risk for prostate cancer include:

• African Americans
• Men over age 50
• Men with a prior history of elevated PSA
• Men who have an abnormal prostate exam
• Men who have family history of prostate cancer
• Men who have family history of other cancers (breast, ovarian, pancreatic and Lynch syndrome)

Questions you may be asked:

• Were you diagnosed with prostate cancer?
• Do you have a history of high PSA?
• Have you ever had a prostate biopsy?
• What’s your history of UTIs or prostate infections?
• Have you experienced trauma to your prostate, like having a catheter inserted?
• Do you have a family history of prostate cancer or breast cancer?
• Are you experiencing any symptoms like blood in your urine, urgency incontinence or frequency incontinence?
• What medications are you taking?
• How are you feeling?
• What support systems do you have?
• What questions do you have?