In particular, hormones are produced by certain glands (like the prostate gland) and they have effects on other cells or organs. Hormones are carried around the body by the bloodstream and have far-reaching effects.

It so happens that there is more chance of prostate cancer growing or growing more quickly in the presence of the male hormone testosterone (and a few others, which are called androgens as a group, because they relate to men's health).

Hormone treatment for prostate cancer therefore relates to the inhibition of these male hormones in the expectation that this will be an effective prostate cancer treatment.

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can be delivered intravenously or by mouth in the form of tablets. These drugs can have several effects. They can prevent your body from producing more male hormones or and they can prevent the androgens already in the body from having any effect.

More often than not hormone treatment for prostate cancer will work on both of these levels. Most of the androgens are produced by the testes and the adrenal glands in the kidneys, so androgen deprivation therapy works on these areas.

However, if this treatment for prostate cancer does not work or there is not enough time for it to take effect because the patient has advanced prostate cancer, it may be necessary to remove the testes.

Removing the testes, an orchiectomy, removes the main source of testosterone and androgens, which has a more immediate effect on the body's hormonal balance. It is also possible to remove the prostate.

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can be used at various stages of the cancer's development: it can be used both in the very early stages to halt growth or it could be used after surgery to prevent a regrowth.

In fact, hormone treatment for prostate cancer is most often used in conjunction with other treatments such as external beam radiation therapy, surgery, cryotherapy, chemotherapy and some very new techniques just coming onto the market.

Cost and personal preference on the parts of the doctor and the patient play roles in the ultimate choice of which treatments are selected.

The side effects of the therapies is also an important consideration.

The point is though that hormone treatment for prostate cancer will not cure cancer. However, hormone therapies slow the growth of existing cancers or even shrinks them.

This gives the patient and the doctor time to seek more health information and choose other treatments.

Hormone treatment can become a permanent therapy, it just depends on the person involved.

Not all men with prostate cancer react to cancer or the treatment of it in the same way.

Hormone treatment for prostate cancer is only one treatment available, it has to be remembered that you will need to follow other types of treatments to completely cure your prostate cancer and you will have to get used to that fact.