Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to kill cancer cells, wherever they are in the body. It won’t get rid of your prostate cancer, but it aims to shrink it and slow down its growth.

Owing to the promising results from one arm of the Stampede Trial docetaxel is starting to be more widely offered as a first line chemotherapy treatment for men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. As this is a fairly recent change there is not yet as much information available about this treatment as there is for other treatments, although a publication from University College London includes some information.

The other information that is in short supply, compared to that for other treatments, is the personal stories. However, as more men receive earlier docetaxel treatment there will be more personal accounts of the possible side effects.

A former member of our group had been on docetaxel and his personal experiences of treatment can be found in his blog. There are other posts about chemo in the same blog.