Effectiveness of External Beam Radiotherapy for Treatment Prostate Cancer - Dissertation Example

A literature review was conducted to collect information on the effectiveness of the four therapy techniques. A total of 40 sources—comprised of journals, books, articles, and web resources—were critically evaluated and summarily reflected upon for ease of data analysis.
The findings demonstrated that EBRT is more effective when used in tandem with another form of therapy. This suggests that if EBRT is going to be one mode of treatment, another mode of treatment that should be considered is either hormone treatment, chemotherapy, or surgery. EBRT alone by itself, as demonstrated by the research reviewed, may not be enough to effectively treat prostate cancer aggressively enough.
Due to the findings of the research reviewed, the hypothesis was proven correct as it was seen that EBRT was indeed more effective when combined in tandem with another one of the three forms of therapy discussed above in the treatment of localized prostate cancer. It is recommended that more research is needed to effectively decide which type of treatment is ultimately the best type of therapy.
Prostate cancer can be a devastating diagnosis even for the most usually unfazed patients. An enlarging prostate, which happens to most men when they get older, can be compounded by the fact that they may indeed get cancer of the prostate as a result.
The point of this research is to cull a variety of resources from several sources which relate to the topic, to also discuss the management of prostate cancer as well as figure out the rate of survival in patients who have experienced the ordeal of having to deal with prostate cancer.
Secondly, different treatment modalities will be discussed, including: hormone therapy combined with radiotherapy; chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy; and surgery combined with radiotherapy. These modalities will also be evaluated for their levels of effectiveness.
Thirdly, the findings will be analyzed.
Fourth, based upon the review of literature, conclusions and recommendations will be made following the research that has been performed.