Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy works by stopping the hormone testosterone from reaching prostate cancer cells. It treats the cancer, wherever it is in the body.
Testosterone controls how the prostate gland grows and develops. It also controls male characteristics, such as erections, muscle strength, and the growth of the penis and testicles. Most of the testosterone in your body is made by the testicles, and a small amount by the adrenal glands which sit above your kidneys.
Testosterone doesn’t usually cause problems, but if you have aggressive prostate cancer, it can make the cancer cells grow faster. In other words, testosterone feeds the prostate cancer. If testosterone is taken away, the cancer will usually shrink, wherever it is in the body.
Hormone therapy alone won’t cure your prostate cancer but it can keep it under control, sometimes for several years, before you need further treatment. It is also used with other treatments, such as radiotherapy, to make them more effective.

Advantages:
• Minimal surgery required, risk of incontinence avoided
• It can treat prostate cancer wherever it is in the body
• It can be used alongside other treatments to make them more effective.
• It can help to reduce some of the symptoms of advanced prostate cancer, such as urinary symptoms

Disadvantages:
• It can cause side effects that might have a big impact on your daily life.
• Used by itself, hormone therapy won’t cure the cancer, but it can keep it under control, sometimes for several years.
• Physical strength may decrease
• Breast swelling and tenderness may occur
• Weight gain
• Fatigue
• Loss of facial hair
• Loss of bone density
• Memory loss
• Difficulty getting and maintaining an erection (impotence)
• Lowered sex drive (libido)
• At some point the cancer will stop responding to hormonal therapy