What is hormone therapy?

Hormones are substances produced naturally in the body. They control many important functions, including how we grow and develop.

Hormones are produced by a number of different organs and glands, which together are known as the endocrine system.

Testosterone is a hormone that helps with many body functions.

It affects sex drive, helps keep bones and muscles strong, controls body fat, helps make red blood cells, and is important for making sperm.

However, testosterone also makes prostate cancer cells grow.

Hormone therapy is a treatment that blocks or lowers the amount of testosterone in the body, so that prostate cancer cells are stopped from growing. This shrinks the cancer and stops it from growing.

Hormone therapy can be injections or tablets. Another type is the surgical removal of the testosterone producing part of the testicles. In some cases, these treatments may be combined.

The type of hormone therapy you are offered will depend on:

• The stage of the cancer (its size and how far it has grown).
• The grade of the cancer (how abnormal the tumour cells are).

It's important to know that hormone therapy for prostate cancer doesn't involve giving you hormones. Instead, it blocks or lowers the amount of certain hormones, like testosterone, that help prostate cancer grow.

Examples of hormone therapy:

Hormone therapy can also be known as:

• Androgen deprivation therapy, or ADT.
• Androgen suppression therapy.
• Chemical castration.
• Surgical castration.

The animation below explains in more detail exactly how hormone therapy works.

• Hormone therapy (injections)
  Information from The Infopool.