Prostate Cancer Warning Signs

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Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that develops in the prostate gland. The tumor usually grows slowly and remains confined to your gland for many years, usually without any symptoms. Also, no outward signs are evident during physical examinations of the prostate. However, as the cancer advances, it can spread beyond your prostate into the surrounding tissues and later to other organs. If it spreads throughout other areas of the body, such as the bones, lungs, and liver, it becomes incurable. Symptoms and signs are therefore often associated typically with advanced prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is initially suspected when a PSA blood test shows abnormal results or when a hard lump is felt on the prostate gland during a routine digital rectal examination. A biopsy of your prostate gland is then done and the diagnosis of prostate cancer is made when cancerous prostatic cells are identified in the biopsy tissue.

Prostate Cancer Warning Signs

If the cancer is caught at its earliest stages, most men will not experience any symptoms. At later stages, the following warning signs may be present:

• Frequent urge to urinate, especially at night
• Frequent urination in small amounts
• Incomplete emptying of the bladder
• Dribbling of urine
• Difficulty starting urination
• Reduced force of the urine stream
• Pain during urination
• Pain during sex
• Blood in the urine
• Pain in the lower back, hips, and thighs
• Bone pain in the spine, pelvis, or ribs

Detection and Prevention

If you detect the cancer early, it is easy to treat and can be cured. However, in the advanced stages treatment is difficult, and it is incurable if the disease has spread to organs such as bones and lymph nodes. Therefore, beginning at age 40, all men should possible undergo yearly screening for prostate cancer.

Although your family history and hereditary factors increase your chances of getting prostate cancer, a lot of it depends on your life style habits like smoking, exposure to heavy metals like Cadmium, and eating habits. You need to avoid smoking, minimize or avoid the intake of foods such as red meat and saturated fats, and increase the intake of vegetables, fruits, soybean products, tomato products, and Vitamin E to have a healthy prostate.

Technorati Tags: Cancer, Early, Men, Prostate, signs, Stage, symptoms, treatment, Warning

If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you are no doubt wondering what your chances of survival are, and what your options are.  You have probably made inquiries about the growth rate of your cancer, and whether it needs to be treated.  You may be considering a variety of treatment options, such as seed implants, removal, or a combined approach involving several procedures.  What is the best way to decide?  You and your doctor will have to examine the particulars of your case, and the direction those variables typically tend to lead.

Because cancer is a systemic disease, it is not possible to determine its precise location within the prostate, or how quickly it is growing.  Your doctor will not be able to say if the cancer has spread, or what the outcome will be.  MRI and bone scans are not able to register very small metastatic tumors, so  the only information you will truly know is what the likelihood is, what the averages indicate.  Your doctor can give you a picture of your situation only in terms of how your symptoms and test results relate to those of other people.

You may be told your chances of  undergoing treatment successfully as a percentage.  However, the outcome is cut and dry.  You will not be cured up to a certain point.  Treatment will be successful or it will not.  The percentages give you an indication of your likelihood, based on research and your doctor’s personal knowledge of how the disease progressed in other cases.  Your PSA level is one indicator your doctor will use.  Comparison of PSA levels and five year survival rates can be one way in which your doctor can help you understand the severity of your situation.

Another variable to consider is the Gleason score.  Even if PSA levels are low and carry a high survival rate, a high Gleason score can indicate that the outlook is not so good.  Determining a proper prognosis is a matter of taking into account as many variables as possible.  Because medical studies typically only concern themselves with one or two variables, your doctor’s combined knowledge is very important.  Research results must be compared with your own test results, and the doctor must make an educated guess as to the seriousness of your situation, and which treatment options are most likely to produce results.  You are probably finding this a very uncomfortable idea, but this is as close to an answer as is possible.

There are certain variable which are standardly used in making this determination.  PSA, Gleason score, and the stage of the cancer are all used to determine the risk level associated with prostate cancer.  Low risk patients typically possess a PSA below 10, Gleason scores from 2 to 6, and Stages T1-T2a.  Intermediate risk patients have PSA levels between 10 and 20, Gleason scores of 7, and Stages T2b-T2c.  High risk patients exhibit PSA levels above 20, Gleason scores 8-10, and Stages T3-T4.

You need to be aware of your PSA, Gleason, and Stage.  If you do not already know, ask your doctor, and keep a careful eye on these numbers.  Your PSA level may fluctuate, so bear in mind the PSA level you had prior to beginning any treatment.  We have put together three variables to determine three risk classifications.  Low risk indicates a high survival rate with a good likelihood that treatment will result in a cure.  The cancer is probably still localized.  High risk is a poor prognosis  I maintain that high risk patients should pursue aggressive and comprehensive treatment regimens utilizing a combination of several treatments.  Patients in the intermediate risk category should be carefully tested, and must take great care when selecting the treatment option they wish to pursue.

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