The side effects of orchiectomy include are similar to those of estrogen hormone therapy. Chemotherapy uses drugs to get rid of cancer cells. Because these drugs travel throughout the body, chemotherapy offers the advantage of helping to destroy cancer cells that may have broken away from the main tumor and spread to other areas of the body through a process known as metastasis. Chemotherapy can be given orally or through a needle into a vein or muscle. To date, chemotherapy has not proven to be very effective in treating prostate cancer, but clinical trials are in progress to find more effective drugs.
Immunotherapy tries to get the body's natural defense mechanism, the immune system, to fight cancer.
Immunotherapy uses materials made by your own body or made in a laboratory to boost, direct or restore the effectiveness of the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. Although no effective immunotherapy is available for prostate cancer, exciting research to find antibodies specific to PSA is in progress. Radiation therapy is another effective treatment for prostate cancer. Radiation therapy uses X-rays or other high energy rays to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. It can be used alone, or in combination with other treatments.