Prostate cancer treatment abroad

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours in men, but it is relatively favourable in terms of clinical course and prognosis. When detected at stages one to three, the disease can be cured. By undergoing treatment in a specialised medical centre, it’s possible to treat prostate cancer without surgery, or with minimally invasive surgical intervention, while maintaining normal erection and avoiding urinary incontinence. Services such as the Booking Health website offer options to undergo treatment abroad. The company’s specialists select the best prostate cancer treatment center for each person and organise the trip abroad.

Surgeries for prostate cancer

Prostatectomy is the main treatment for prostate cancer and is usually the only treatment a patient needs. The essence of the operation is the complete removal of the prostate with seminal vesicles, but it can be carried out in different ways:

• Open prostatectomy is an intervention through a large incision in the perineum or abdomen. This is the standard of care in least developed countries.
• Laparoscopic prostatectomy is a minimally invasive operation through short incisions in the abdomen. This is the standard treatment of prostate cancer abroad.
• Prostatectomy with the Da Vinci robot is a more advanced option for laparoscopic removal, a safe and reliable procedure.

Non-surgical treatment

Prostate cancer can be cured without surgery. For this purpose doctors use:

• External beam radiation therapy
• Brachytherapy
• High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)

These treatments are equally effective with results comparable to those of the surgical intervention.

External beam radiation therapy involves delivering radiation to the prostate to destroy the tumour, with the source of radiation staying outside the human body. The procedure is painless and the treatment takes several weeks.

Brachytherapy is the contact type of irradiation. The procedure is invasive: it requires punctures in the perineum to deliver the radioactive “seeds” to the prostate. However, the treatment does not last long – two or three procedures are enough. In addition, the bladder and penis are not irradiated, which reduces the risk of developing potency disorders and urinary incontinence.

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) can destroy the prostatic tumour without radiation or surgery. The procedure is painful, so it is performed under general or spinal anaesthesia, and the surgery lasts one to two hours.

Treatment of advanced prostate cancer

If the diagnosis detects the presence of metastases, or the tumour spreads to neighbouring organs, then doctors say that prostate cancer has reached the advanced stage. In such situations, systemic therapy is used, such as:

• Hormone therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Radionuclide therapy

In addition to standard therapeutic methods, radio-targeted therapy with Lutetium-177 is used in developed countries. A radiopharmaceutical consisting of ligands that target PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen) is injected into the body. Radiation is delivered directly to malignant cells because healthy tissues do not contain PSMA, and therefore do not accumulate the radiopharmaceutical. Several such procedures with intervals of eight weeks significantly reduce or completely destroy all tumours in the body, including bone metastases.

Treatment of prostate cancer abroad

For anyone wishing to undergo treatment abroad, visiting the Booking Health website is a potentially useful option. It shows the prices of all surgeries and other medical manipulations, and it’s possible to choose the necessary medical program at an affordable cost. The Booking Health team will help choose a clinic and organise the trip abroad. In addition, it could help save on the costs of medical services due to the exclusion of taxes for foreign patients.

The editorial unit

The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on medical or any particular matter. Recipients should not act on the basis of this article’s information without taking appropriate advice from a healthcare professional.