Treating Prostate Cancer with Radiation Therapy

Prostate cancer is a major health concern for American men.  It is the second most common cancer in American men and about one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. 

According to the American Cancer Society, there will be about 180,890 new cases of prostate cancer and about 26,120 deaths from prostate cancer in the United States during the year 2016, with 2,080 of those new cases being diagnosed in Oklahoma. 

There are several risk factors associated with prostate cancer, including family history, race, and diet, but the most common factor is age. Prostate cancer occurs mainly in older men.  About six in ten cases are diagnosed in men aged 65 or older, and it is rare before age 40.  The average age at the time of diagnosis is about 66. 

At Oklahoma CyberKnife, men diagnosed with prostate cancer are treated with the CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System.  CyberKnife is a painless, nonsurgical prostate cancer treatment technology in which high-dose radiation is delivered to the tumor from a linear accelerator mounted on a highly maneuverable robotic arm.  Hundreds of different angles enable the radiation to be contoured to the shape of the prostate, resulting in treatment aimed directly to the prostate gland, avoiding nearby critical anatomy.  This precision reduces treatment time to just five outpatient visits, compared to the average 45 visits conventional radiation therapy requires. 

To learn more about prostate cancer, please visit the Prostate Cancer Foundation at www.pcf.org.  To find out more about how Oklahoma CyberKnife treats prostate cancer, including a video on prostate cancer treatment, please click here.