Once prostate cancer has moved out of the prostate gland and extended into other parts of the body it is classed as advanced prostate cancer and treatment becomes much more difficult than when the disease is limited to the prostate.

If your cancer has not spread too widely and is not particularly aggressive it is still possible not simply to treat it but in fact to cure it. However, in many cases where the disease is widespread, or is too aggressive, treatment becomes a matter of simply slowing the progress of the disease and providing you with the best possible quality of life.

Today one of the chief treatments for cases of advanced prostate cancer is intravenous chemotherapy frequently using a drug known as docetaxal. Docetaxal is a very effective drug treatment for a lot of patients and does indeed slow the progress of advanced prostate cancer and extend the life of a significant number of patients. Nonetheless, it does have a number of side effects which include such things as nausea, loss of appetite, hair loss and a greater risk of infection. As a result it is here that we run into one of the biggest difficulties in treating advanced prostate cancer.

When you are dealing with a condition which cannot be cured and which will eventually kill you, then extending your life by holding back the progression of the cancer is good provided that treatment gives you an acceptable quality of life and does not end up being worse than the cancer itself.

For a significant number of prostate cancer sufferers, who are normally in their 60s, 70s or even 80s, chemotherapy is not exactly pleasant but is a price worth paying to buy them some time when they first begin their treatment. However, as the treatment progresses and the side effects begin to build the picture frequently alters and a lot of patients begin to question whether or not it is all worth it. Of course this is never an easy question to answer and has to be the subject of a discussion between the patient, his family and his physician.

Most of us are familiar with this picture either as a result of our own personal experience of illness or from our experience of seeing family members of close friends in this situation and know well just how hard a time it can be.

There may however be a bit of light at the end of this tunnel as studies involving a sizeable group of patients with metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer show that a lot of patients may be able to take a 'chemo holiday' without any significant harm to their treatment. In other words, after a number of weeks of chemo, and when the side effects are really staring to pull you down, you may be able to simply stop your chemo for a while and let your body recover a little before going on with your treatment.

Naturally it is early days yet and nobody is quite certain yet exactly how long your 'chemo holidays' could be or how frequently you can take them, but for a significant number of advanced prostate cancer sufferers this seemingly minor advance in treatment might well make all the difference in the world.

ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on a wide variety of prostate problems including such things as the therapeutic use of self prostate massage