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ProstateFactSheet.com is brought to you by AllNetHealth.com and is intended to provide basic information that you can use to make informed decisions about important health issues affecting you or your loved ones. We hope that you’ll find this information about the Prostate and Prostate Cancer helpful and that you’ll seek professional medical advice to address any specific symptoms you might have related to this matter. In addition to this site, we have created the "Healthpedia Network" of sites to provide specific information on a wide variety of health topics.
What are the risk factors for prostate cancer? Who should get tested for prostate cancer? What are the symptoms of prostate cancer? How is prostate cancer diagnosed? What is the treatment for prostate cancer? Where can I buy a home test kit for prostate cancer?
The prostate is part of a man's sex organs. It's about the size of a walnut and surrounds the tube called the urethra, located just below the bladder. The urethra has two jobs: to carry urine from the bladder when you urinate and to carry semen during a sexual climax, or ejaculation. Semen is a combination of sperm plus fluid that the prostate adds. For men under 50, the most common prostate problem is prostatitis (Inflammation of the prostate gland. Chronic prostatitis means the prostate gets inflamed over and over again. The most common form of prostatitis is not associated with any known infecting organism.) For men over 50, the most common prostate problem is prostate enlargement. This condition is also called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH. (An enlarged prostate not caused by cancer. BPH can cause problems with urination because the prostate squeezes the urethra at the opening of the bladder) Older men are at risk for prostate cancer as well, but this disease is much less common than BPH. More information about prostate cancer is available from the National Cancer Institute.
What is prostate cancer? (top) Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that begins growing in the prostate gland. It can spread from the prostate to nearby lymph nodes, bones, or other organs. This spread is called metastasis. A male hormone called testosterone can stimulate the growth of hormone-dependent prostate cancer cells. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. But the good news is that survival rates have improved a great deal. In the past 20 years, 5-year survival rates for all stages of prostate cancer combined have increased from 67% to 99%.
What are the risk factors for prostate cancer? (top) While researchers still do not know exactly what causes prostate cancer, they have identified some risk factors.
Who should get tested for prostate cancer? (top) When should you be tested for prostate cancer? According to the American Cancer Society, men aged 50 and older with a life expectancy of at least 10 years, and those over the age of 45 who are in high-risk groups (such as African-American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer) should have a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) (A protein produced by cells of the prostate gland. PSA levels are used to help identify disorders of the prostate) blood test and digital rectal exam (DRE) (The doctor inserts a gloved finger into the rectum to feel for anything not normal. Some tumors of the rectum and prostate gland can be felt during a DRE.) once every year
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer? (top) Early prostate cancer usually does not cause any symptoms. But as the tumor grows it may spread from the prostate to surrounding areas causing a variety of symptoms. As a result of metastasis to the spine, for example, many men experience pain in the lower back, pelvis, or upper thighs.
How is prostate cancer diagnosed? (top) Several tests help the doctor identify the problem and decide on the best treatment.
What is the treatment for prostate cancer? (top) There are many choices in the treatment of prostate cancer. The main options include surgery, radiation, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, and watchful waiting. In deciding which treatment option is most appropriate for you, you and your doctor will consider several factors, including the cancer stage and expected benefits and risks of treatment. Although prostate cancer is best treated when detected at an early stage, therapies are available that can help even after the cancer has spread outside of the prostate. Your doctor will determine which of these treatments is most appropriate for you. Surgical Treatment for Prostate Cancer For more than three decades, the "gold standard" treatment for prostate cancer has been radical prostatectomy, or removal of the prostate gland. This option is used only if the cancer has not obviously spread beyond the gland. Removal of the prostate gland requires a two to five day hospital stay and a recovery period of several weeks. This surgery’s common side effects include loss of erectile ability (impotence) and urinary leakage (incontinence). Refinements to radical prostatectomy include “nerve sparing” and “bladder neck sparing” surgeries, which may be performed in qualified patients. In these operations, the prostate is surgically removed, but the physician preserves the nerves necessary for erections and/or the bladder neck, which is the outlet of the bladder. For the patient, these important advances allow earlier return of continence after surgery and possible preservation of erectile function. Typically hospitalization for this procedure is two to three days, with a home recover period of three to four weeks before resuming normal activities. Because a tumor frequently spreads to tissues adjacent to the prostate, removal of the prostate does not guarantee a cure. Even the best reported surgical results show cure in only about three our of every four prostatectomy patients. The presence of Prostate Specific Antigens (PSA) after surgery may indicate prostatectomy failure and the need for additional therapy, such as external beam radiation. External Beam Radiation External beam radiation therapy kills cancer cells by decreasing their ability to grow and divide. Many consider radiation a form of “micro-surgery” because it has the ability to eradicate tumor cells while preserving normal cells and tissues. Radiation usually involves seven to eight weeks of daily treatments in which beams of radiation are directed at the prostate gland in order to destroy the cancer cells. The
procedure itself is painless. However, side effects such as rectal
irritation, diarrhea, frequent urination and fatigue may result from
external beam radiation. Impotence is less likely from radiation than
from surgery. Prostate brachytherapy is a minimally-invasive procedure that takes approximately 45 minutes in an Outpatient Surgery Center. With seeding, patients go home the same day and are usually back to their usual daily activities within a day or two. In 1998, and again in 2000, Northwest Hospital physicians published the first study results to report actual ten and 12-year results. These studies showed that when followed for many years after treatment for their early-stage prostate cancer, 66 to 69 percent of patients who received brachytherapy were disease-free and had PSA levels comparable to non-cancer patients. Compared to radical prostatectomy results reported by any major cancer centers across the United States, our results with brachytherapy were either the same or significantly better than those of surgery. The results were also consistently much better than those of patients who underwent only external beam radiation. Combination Therapy External beam radiation is frequently used in combination with seeding. In this situation, men who are at increased risk of cancer outside their prostates (and hence are usually considered incurable with a radical prostatectomy) receive treatment with both brachytherapy and an abbreviated course of external beam therapy. Men at risk for cancer outside their prostate may have a high PSA, advance clinical stage, and/or high Gleason score. (A Gleason score is a method of classifying prostate cancer cells on a scale of 2 to 10. The higher the Gleason score the faster the cancer is likely to grow and the more likely it is to spread beyond the prostate.) Results from seeding plus external beam radiation in this group of “high risk” men are excellent with up to 79 percent disease-free survival observed in patients followed up for 12 years. Hormone Therapy Several different types of hormone therapy may be used to treat prostate cancer. The goal is to reduce or stop production of male hormones that feed both the normal prostate and the cancer. In this manner, the prostate may be made to shrink, which is occasionally necessary for an optimum seed implant. This therapy is usually administered as a monthly injection. Hormone therapy is sometimes used to make tumors more responsive to radiation. Nutritional and Lifestyle Therapy It has been well established that dietary factors can have a large impact on a man’s chance of developing prostate cancer. Likewise, nutrition and lifestyle are important in fully combating the disease and the potential side effects of treatment. The complex nutritional interactions with compounds like isoflavones, selenium, lycopenes, chromium, co-enzyme Q-10, and many more are important to regulate before, during, and after therapy
Click here to buy a home test kit for prostate cancer.
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