Prostate Cancer
You are at the center of everything we do at the Prostate Oncology Center at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Here, we surround you with a team of specialists who work together closely to provide expert, targeted care and compassionate support throughout your treatment and beyond.
We guide you every step of the way, combining our deep clinical expertise in prostate cancer with a commitment to meet your unique needs. Together, our scientists and clinicians — from UW Medicine and Fred Hutch — provide hope for men with prostate cancer and their families not only in the Northwest but also around the world.
Why Choose Fred Hutch?
Multidisciplinary Prostate Cancer Team
We bring together experienced, nationally known urologic oncologists, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists who specialize in prostate and genitourinary cancers.
Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Treatment
Our physicians are experts in the full spectrum of complex treatments prostate cancer may require. Based on the unique characteristics of your tumor, your team may recommend active surveillance, watchful waiting, radical prostatectomy, proton therapy or other radiation treatment, hormone treatment, immunotherapy or chemotherapy, all available at Fred Hutch.
Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials
To give you access to the most innovative therapies, we unite the leading researchers and cancer specialists of Fred Hutch and UW Medicine so you can take part in prostate cancer clinical studies not available everywhere.
Advancing Care Through Research
The Fred Hutch Prostate Oncology Center has set the standard of care for the nation, and we’re moving it forward. World-renowned investigators at the Institute for Prostate Cancer Research, a Fred Hutch–UW Medicine collaboration, have developed many new therapeutic strategies and are working to understand prostate cancer causes and progression, develop new prevention methods, devise innovative diagnostics and improve survival and quality of life. Fred Hutch researchers are also on the Stand Up 2 Cancer Prostate Cancer Dream Team.
A National Leader in Cancer Care
Fred Hutch is the leading cancer treatment center in the region and among the top nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.
NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center
We are a comprehensive cancer center, a designation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that reflects our scientific leadership and the depth and breadth of our research to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Learn About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer after skin cancer in men in the United States. In some men, it is slow growing and unlikely to cause serious problems. In others, the disease is very aggressive. If it’s detected early, prostate cancer is highly treatable, and most men survive. Fred Hutch offers comprehensive prostate cancer treatment from a team of experts.
Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is complex. There are a lot of things to think about before you and your physician choose a treatment plan. Experts at Fred Hutch offer comprehensive prostate cancer care and can talk with you about your unique situation and the best prostate cancer treatment for you.
Prostate Cancer Care Team
At Fred Hutch, you receive care from a team of providers with extensive experience in your disease. Your team includes physicians, a patient care coordinator, a registered nurse, an advanced practice provider and others, based on your needs. You also have access to experts like registered dietitians, social workers, acupuncturists, psychiatrists and more who specialize in supporting people with cancer or blood disorders.
Second Opinions
If you’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer, we recommend getting a second opinion before selecting a course of treatment. Getting a second opinion is more than a formality. It’s a valuable way to verify facts, like the stage, the location and even the existence of the disease. A second opinion may provide you access to new prostate cancer treatments or clinical studies that are available for men in your specific situation.
If you have received a prostate cancer diagnosis, a second opinion makes sense for the following reasons:
- Prostate cancer can be a complex disease to treat, and there are many opinions about how best to treat it.
- You have time. In most cases, prostate cancer is a slow-growing disease; in some cases, it may develop over a 10- to 20-year period and never move beyond the prostate. Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, you can most likely take one to three months to learn all you can to make a calculated, deliberate plan of action for treating your disease.
- It’s important to avoid overtreatment. It’s been well documented1 that prostate cancer has been overtreated, meaning some men with the disease have undergone treatments they did not need. That’s one reason why Fred Hutch is a proponent of active surveillance for dealing with slow-growing prostate cancer.
- Changing treatment regimens is not always easy or possible. Once you start a course of treatment, it’s sometimes hard to change to something else, especially if you’ve elected surgery or radiation. So it’s important to be well informed and make the best possible decisions from the outset.
Take your time, and find a urologic oncologist you trust and a course of treatment you’re comfortable with. If you weren’t diagnosed at Fred Hutch, request an appointment with one of our many prostate cancer specialists, who are all University of Washington faculty members.
And if you received your diagnosis here at Fred Hutch, don’t be afraid to ask your physician about getting a second opinion. They’ll be more than happy to provide you with a list of recommended doctors to consult with.
1. Roberto Daza, “Research Aims to Prevent Overtreatment of Prostate Cancer,” The Seattle Times, August 17, 2011.
Latest Treatments and Clinical Trials
Many patients at Fred Hutch receive promising therapies by taking part in clinical trials. These research studies are done by physician-scientists from Fred Hutch and UW Medicine. They test new treatments or new ways to use current treatments.
Every advance in cancer treatment in recent years has come out of clinical trials. We offer more active clinical trials than anywhere else, which means more treatment options for patients like you.
For some people, taking part in a clinical study may be the best treatment choice. Access to clinical studies by researchers at both Fred Hutch and UW Medicine is one reason many patients come to us for care.
We’re active in finding new prostate cancer treatment options.
The Institute for Prostate Cancer Research (IPCR), a Fred Hutch–UW Medicine collaboration, brings together experts to devise therapies and new technologies in hopes of one day finding a cure. IPCR faculty received one of only 10 prostate cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants nationwide from the National Cancer Institute to study prostate cancer progression.
Fred Hutch also has researchers on the Stand Up 2 Cancer Prostate Cancer Dream Team.
Your Fred Hutch team will talk with you about available studies that are appropriate for you and could give you access to promising new options.
Prevention and Early Detection
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in U.S. men. Early detection and improvements in therapy have resulted in a dramatic decrease in prostate cancer deaths (by 40 to 50 percent) since the early 1990s.
One of the best ways to detect prostate cancer early is through screening — testing to find the disease in men with no prostate cancer symptoms.
Prostate Cancer Genetics Clinic
Nearly 12 percent of men with advanced prostate cancer carry inherited genes that increase their risk for faster-growing forms of the disease that are more likely to spread. Knowing whether or not a man with prostate cancer carries a gene mutation associated with inherited cancer risk can help physicians select better and more effective treatment options.
The Fred Hutch Prostate Cancer Genetics Clinic provides counseling and genetic testing, if appropriate, for men with prostate cancer.
