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What are the side effects of prostate cancer treatment?

Because the prostate is close to several vital structures, prostate cancer and its treatments can disrupt normal urinary, bowel, and sexual functioning. This section discusses side effects that might be experienced as well as advice on managing those side effects.
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Managing Prostate Cancer Treatment Side Effects

Early management of side effects has been shown to help patients live longer, better lives. It is very important that you communicate with your doctors about the side effects that you are experiencing as you undergo treatment. Ongoing and proactive communication will enable your doctor to ...

Urinary Dysfunction

The term urinary dysfunction encompasses both urinary incontinence, which can range from some leaking to complete loss of bladder control, and irritative voiding symptoms (symptoms triggered by the irritation of the tissues), including increased urinary frequency, increased urinary urgency, and pain upon urination. Obstruction of the ...

Bowel Dysfunction

Solid waste that is excreted from the body moves slowly down the intestines, and, under normal circumstances, the resultant stool exits through the rectum and then the anus. Damage to the rectum can result in bowel problems, including rectal bleeding, diarrhea, or urgency. In prostatectomy it ...

Erectile Dysfunction

Regardless of whether the nerves were spared during surgery or whether the most precise dose planning was used during radiation therapy, erectile dysfunction remains the most common side effect after treatment. This is because the nerves and blood vessels that control the physical aspect of an ...

Infertility

Despite the best efforts of surgeons and radiation oncologists, it is nearly impossible for a man to retain his ability to father children through sexual intercourse after initial treatment. During prostatectomy, both the prostate and the nearby seminal vesicles are removed. The seminal vesicles are two ...

Hormone Therapy Side Effects

Testosterone is the primary male hormone, and plays an important role in establishing and maintaining typical male characteristics, such as body hair growth, muscle mass, sexual desire, and erectile function, and contributes to a host of other normal physiologic processes in the body. The primary systemic ...

Radiation Therapy Side Effects

Because the prostate is close to several vital structures, radiation therapy can disrupt normal urinary, bowel, and sexual functioning. Short-term Complications You may experience some temporary urinary symptoms, such as waking up in the night and needing to urinate, needing to urinate more often during ...

Surgery Side Effects

Because the prostate is close to several vital structures, prostate cancer surgery can disrupt normal urinary, bowel, and sexual functioning. Urinary Incontinence During a prostatectomy, the bladder is pulled downward and connected to the urethra at the point where the prostate once sat. If the sphincter ...

Chemotherapy Side Effects

Chemotherapy is a general class of medications used to treat advanced prostate cancer. Chemotherapy works through non-hormonal mechanisms to prevent cancer cells from dividing and making new cells. Because it also affects normal cells to a lesser degree, patients may experience side effects. Reactions to ...

When to Seek Help

Some form of urinary and bowel dysfunction is normal following initial therapy for localized prostate cancer.  However, it’s important to know that not all symptoms are normal, and that some require immediate care.  Call your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms. What ...

Janet Farrar Worthington

The Long, Wet Road Back to Normal

Incontinence after radical prostatectomy sucks. But for nearly all men, it goes away. For the ...

Janet Farrar Worthington

Interview with an Expert: Rehabilitating Your Penis

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT Trinity Bivalacqua, M.D., Ph.D., the R. Christian B. Evensen Professor of ...