Prostate Cancer Returns

Every year roughly 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. About 60,000 (30%) of them seek a cure by having their prostate and the adjacent lymph nodes surgically removed-a radical prostatectomy. This can be a successful treatment for prostate cancer, but what most people don't know is that within 5-10 years, the cancer will come back in 30-50% of these men. Thus, every year as many as 30,000 will be told that their prostate cancer has returned. Men are universally shocked and bewildered by this news. They thought they had been cured by surgery, but now they discover they were not. "I'm going to die from this" is everyone's first thought. And this is possible. But most men don't understand their medical situation, don't know their treatment options, and don't know how likely the options are to be successful. Men with a recurrence of prostate cancer don't know what to do to try to save their lives. This book is a guide through the maze of medical information required by men who have just found out that their prostate cancer has retuned and need to understand how much trouble they are in and what they can do to increase the odds of their survival. Its purpose is not to offer psychological comfort, but useful information. It may be best thought of as a briefing book for men who suddenly discover that they are in a hard situation that requires them to make immediate and crucial decisions. Its aim is to help them fight to save their lives from prostate cancer.