Metastatic prostate cancer

Metastases are secondary cancers (arising from a primary cancer) in other organs, such as the bones or lymph nodes. Treatment for prostate cancer which has metastasised is fundamentally different to treatment for prostate cancer which is still confined to the prostate.

Generally speaking, it has not been demonstrated to date that patients with metastatic prostate cancer benefit from treatment of the primary cancer with, for example, radiotherapy or prostatectomy. Clinical trials looking at this issue are currently being carried out.

The main focus for treating patients with metastatic prostate cancer is therefore systemic therapies, i.e. therapies which have an effect on the whole body.

On the following pages, we provide an overview of systemic therapy options.