Systemic therapies are normally used when the cancer has spread beyond a confined area or when someone has high-risk localized disease. Systemic therapies affect the whole body and can help combat cancerous growths wherever they are located, including ones that are currently too small to detect. This is why systemic therapies are usually the best option for metastatic or advanced cancers, and can improve the quality and length of life for men with prostate cancer.
With prostate cancer, especially aggressive prostate cancer, your care team will often use some combination of systemic and local therapies. As part of the multidisciplinary team, your medical oncologist will help to determine your personalized treatment plan, which may include systemic therapies such as:
- Chemotherapy
- Hormone therapy
- Immunotherapy
