Prostate Cancer hormone treatment

Hi Expat

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the Online Community. I’m Debbie, one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line. I am sorry to hear that your friend has prostate cancer that had spread. I can understand you wanting to find out more about treatment and outlook (prognosis) in this situation. Here at the Macmillan Support Line, we can give general information and support. We are independent from the NHS and don’t have access to medical records so we can’t give personalised information. It is difficult for us to know what exactly is happening in your friend’s situation but we can give some general information.

Usually, if a prostate cancer has spread to 3 or 4 other areas of the body it would not be possible to cure it. But treatments such as Decapepty and Zytiga can often shrink the cancer and control it for a very long time. The time varies from person to person and is difficult to predict but it can be up to 5 years or even longer for some people. So this may be why your friend is feeling very positive at the moment. It sounds as though his prostate cancer is well controlled now and may not be visible on any scans.

You can read information about treatments for prostate cancer that has spread (metastatic prostate cancer). If the cancer begins to grow again after some time, there are usually other treatments that can be given to control or shrink the cancer again. Your friend’s doctors are in the best place to discuss possible treatments with him, as they know all the details of his situation.

You mention that your friend swears by dandelion leaf and root tea. There is no evidence that dandelion tea can treat cancer, but it has some health uses and can sometimes help people to pass urine to prevent fluid build-up in the body. You can read about dandelion on the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre website in the USA. It is important that your friend tells his cancer treatment team that he is taking dandelion, because some herbs or dietary supplements can interact with particular medicines and affect how they work.

I thought it may be helpful to explain that a 5-year survival rate doesn’t mean that people only live for 5 years. This is a common misunderstanding of the term 5 year survival. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and researchers collects information about what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. So they look at the number of people still alive after 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and 10 years (and longer). For prostate cancer that has spread, more than 50% of people live for 5 years or more. Some people live much longer than this. And survival rates are improving, as more treatments are being developed all the time.

There is detailed information about survival for all stages of prostate cancer on the Cancer Research UK website. That information describes all the different things that can affect survival for people with prostate cancer but it can’t be used to predict outcome for an individual person.

It can be helpful to look at the things that can help to boost general health, and may help someone to live well after they have been diagnosed with cancer. We have information about diet and food supplements for people affected by cancer. And there is information about healthy living after a cancer diagnosis.

I hope that this information is helpful to both you and your friend but realise that it may not answer all your questions. So you are welcome to contact us again by webchat, email or phone.

With best wishes

Debbie C

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us. 

 Ref/DC/SH 

Hi Debbie, many thanks for a Brill helpful and informative reply. For some reason this third biopsie was more anxiety provoking than previously. Much better now, perspective returned! Thank you.