Surgery

A radical prostatectomy is a major operation to take out the whole of the prostate gland. It involves a hospital stay of four or five days. The gland might be removed using keyhole surgery (laparoscopy).

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells. It can be given from inside or outside the body.

Radiotherapy given from outside the body is called external beam radiotherapy. For prostate cancer, radiotherapy is usually divided into 16 treatments given every day, Monday-Friday, over three weeks.

Another treatment option is brachytherapy. This is a type of internal radiotherapy where tiny radioactive seeds are put inside the prostate. You have a general or spinal anaesthetic, and stay in hospital overnight. This treatment is suitable only for men with small cancers and smaller prostates.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy is the use of cold temperature to freeze and destroy cancer cells. It can be used as a first line treatment for cancer that hasn’t spread far from the prostate.

It can also be used as a second line of treatment if other treatments haven’t worked and the cancer has returned but still not spead to other places in the body. Cryotherapy can be repeated.