Prostate Cancer Treatment

Prostate Cancer Treatment at UVA Health

Prostate cancer is often a slow-growing cancer. In this case, you have a choice to act or to wait.

What is Active Surveillance?

You may choose to closely follow the cancer with your doctor. This is called active surveillance: It's an option if you:

• Have early stage, low-grade prostate cancer that is growing slowly
• Want to prioritize your quality of life over treatment for a while

Active surveillance requires:

• PSA blood tests at least twice a year
• Usually an MRI scan of your prostate
• Repeat prostate biopsies to check on the cancer

The goal of active surveillance is to watch the cancer as long as it is safe. We can still cure it when the time comes for treatment.

Watchful Waiting vs. Active Surveillance

Sometimes your doctor will recommend another option: Watchful Waiting. This means you never want or need to have curative treatment. Watchful Waiting and Active Surveillance are very different. You want to be sure you know which one is right for you.

Powerful Prostate Cancer Treatment

If you need treatment for aggressive prostate cancer, you'll find the very latest tools and methods at UVA Health. We can customize your care based on whether your cancer is only in the prostate (localized) or has spread to other parts of the body.

Depending on the stage of your cancer, treatment might include:

• Prostatectomy — surgery to remove the prostate, seminal vesicles, and sometimes lymph nodes 
• Brachytherapy — kills the cancer in the prostate using targeted seeds
• MR-Linac — precise external beam radiation
• Hormone therapy — blocks the hormones that cause cells, including cancer cells, to grow
• Vaccine therapy — boosts your immune system
• Targeted therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation isotope therapy (Pluvicto) — treats prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body
• Radiation — to relieve pain from disease that's spread to bone

Treatment Spotlight: da Vinci® Robotic Surgery

Our experts have years of experience performing robotic surgery. We're the first in Virginia to offer the da Vinci 5 (DV5) robotic surgical system for prostatectomy. The DV5 represents a major advance in a 30-year evolution of robotically-assisted surgery.

This procedure uses a miniature camera and robotic “hands.” Your doctor inserts them into the body through a series of tiny incisions. These tools ensure steadiness and precision. This form of surgery benefits you because it:

• Reduces blood loss
• Increases healing
• Offers good results for urinary control 
• Aids sexual function recovery

Why Screening Matters

After skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. Talk to your doctor about getting a blood test called PSA every year. This test, plus a rectal exam, can catch cancer early. But you'll need a biopsy to confirm if it's cancer.

Not everyone wants to be checked for prostate cancer. So your doctor will talk with you about your own goals and preferences.