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

The prostate is a small gland located below the bladder, found only in the male reproductive system. Prostate cancer occurs when the cells of the prostate mutate and multiply without control. It is one of the most common cancers found among men and is typically found among older men above the age of 50. Men with a family history of this cancer are also under a great risk, and should get tested regularly.. Increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables and reducing the consumption of red meat and saturated fats can prevent prostate cancer to a great extent.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of prostate cancer are the following:

• Difficulty and pain while urinating
• Passing urine often, particularly at night
• Blood in the urine
• Pain in the lower back, hips, and thighs
• Bone pain in the spine, pelvis, or ribs
• Problems in sexual intercourse

Advanced Prostate Cancer

If the cancer is detected 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. When the cancer reaches the end stages, the person may suffer weight loss, pain in various parts of the body such as lower back, hips, and thighs. Treatment in the advanced stage aims generally at reducing pain and improving the quality of life.

Treatment Options

A multidisciplinary team of doctors, which includes a urologist, radiotherapy specialist, hormone therapy specialist, chemotherapy specialist, surgeons, and oncologists help you in deciding the course of your treatment. Before deciding on the type of treatment, various factors related to the patient have to be taken into consideration, which include:

• Your Age
• Overall health
• The extent of spread of the cancer
• The symptoms that are visible
• Possible side effects of the treatment

Hormonal therapy is the preferred method of treatment in advanced prostate cancer. Chemotherapy may be used if hormone therapy is not effective in controlling the disease. Surgery to remove the prostate gland is not a viable option in case of advanced cases. However, a trans-urethral resection of the prostate can relieve problems with passing urine in advanced cases. Painkillers may be given in some cases and Radio therapy may be used to relieve bone pain in others.

Technorati Tags: Cancer, End Stage, Final Stage, Prostate, symptoms, treatment

Prostate is a small gland found only in the reproductive system of men. It is the size of a walnut and surrounds the urethra, the tube which carries urine from the bladder to the penis. Prostate cancer mostly affects men over the age of 50 and is rarely found in younger men.

It differs from most other cancers in the body in that small areas of cancer within the prostate may not grow or cause any problems or syptoms for many years. As a result, prostate cancer in your body may be detected only after the cancer has spread to the other organs.

However, the survival rate of prostate cancer can be very high if the disease is caught in its early stages. But it is very difficult to diagnose prostate cancer in time as the tumors have to be big enough to be noticeable. Therefore, you might not be able to catch prostate cancer at Stage 1. But if you pay attention to your body, your doctor may be able to detect it as it goes into Stage 2.

Early symptoms

The five early symptoms of prostate cancer that will help you detect the disease are explained below:/

1. Urinary Difficulties

The first symptoms of prostate cancer are urinary difficulties. This is because as the tumor grows it presses against your urethra. When this happens, a man will experience a frequent urge to urinate, trouble urinating despite the frequent urge, and a very low urine flow.

2. The Presence of Blood

If there is presence of blood in your urine or semen, it needs to be taken seriously. It is a definite indication of a serious problem.

3. Erectile Dysfunction

As the prostate gland is a sexual organ, erectile dysfunction may indicate prostate cancer though not necessarily so. If you are experiencing erectile dysfunction, discuss it with your doctor to make sure prostate cancer can be fully ruled out.

4. Swelling in the Legs

Swelling in the legs is an early symptom of prostate cancer. This is because when the disease starts to spread from one part of the body to another, it will spread into the lymph nodes. As a result, the unhealthy lymph nodes will start to accumulate in your legs and cause swelling.

5. Pelvic Discomfort

Pelvic discomfort is an important symptom of prostate cancer. This is because, when the disease affects the lymph nodes, it can cause them to press up against the nerves in your pelvis, resulting in pain.

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The prostate gland and the urinary bladder in men lie close to each other. The gland lies just below the bladder and surrounds the urethra, the tube that drains the bladder. This proximity allows bacteria from your urine to enter the prostate through the urethra. The bacteria can then multiply and cause bacterial prostatitis or prostate infections. An enlarged prostate gland can be a cause of prostatitis as it prevents the proper flow of urine.

Symptoms

Prostatitis typically occurs when you are between the ages of 30-50 but can occur when you are older. The symptoms are usually severe and sudden, and can include the following:

• Frequent urination, especially at night
• Painful urination
• Weak flow of urine
• Muscle and joint pain
• Pain between the penis and the rectum
• Pain during sex
• Fever and chills
• Lower back pain

Types of Prostatitis

1. Acute Bacterial Prostatitis

This condition develops suddenly with severe symptoms and is caused due to a bacterial infection of the prostate. You need to seek urgent medical attention in case of any symptoms.  Your doctor can prescribe medications that can cure the problem.

2. Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis

This is a chronic but rare condition that develops gradually and is caused by a bacterial infection of the urinary tract. You doctor will advise you to take antibiotics for a long time for the situation to improve. However, this infection may recur again and is normally difficult to treat.

3. Chronic Abacterial Prostatitis

This condition is also known as Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS). You may have no infection but have extensive pain in the pelvic region for many months. This situation also develops gradually and is hard to treat. It mostly requires a combination of treatment methods.

4. Prostatodynia (pain in the prostate gland)

In this type of inflammation of the prostate, bacteria is again not the cause as in case of CPPS. It is a very painful condition, in which the symptoms go away from your body only to recur again without warning. The urine and the fluid from the prostate usually don’t reveal any known infecting agent. Doctors may prescribe you antibiotics and certain other drugs that relax the muscles of the prostate but the success rate is generally very low.

Long Term Effects

Acute bacterial prostatitis can result in the spread of bacteria into your blood stream, which can in turn result in septic shock. Septic shock is dangerously low blood pressure that occurs as a result of full-body infection. Puss or abscess can also form in your prostate as a long-term result of infection.

Technorati Tags: Effects, Gland, Infection, Prostate, Prostatitis, symptoms, urethra

Prostate Cancer Prognosis for Stage III

Stage III prostate cancer is the third in the common four stage TNM (Tumor/Nodes/Metastases) prognosis system.  If your cancer has received a stage III diagnosis, this is characterized by a regionalized tumor than has spread beyond the prostate.  At this point, the tumor has moved through the capsule that encloses the prostate and possibly into the seminal vesicles.  While it has moved beyond the prostate, stage III prostate cancer generally has not yet reached the lymph nodes or any other distant sites in the body (such as bone metastases).  Tests such as computed tomography, bone scans, and endorectal coil magnetic resonance imaging can determine if the cancer has spread elsewhere in the body and help classify the stage in which the prostate cancer is in.

Tumors that have been classified as Stage III tumors can often cause many difficulties including difficulties with urination due to their large size and bone pain.  Common methods of treating difficulties with urination include surgical transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), radiation therapy, surgery, or hormonal therapy.  Bone pain can be lessened by radiation therapy.

One of the most common methods of treating stage III cancers is external beam radiation. External beam radiation uses a linear accelerator which produces high-intensity x-rays.  These x-rays are then concentrated in a beam toward the prostate.  This method is less invasive than alternatives such as surgery, but is a more effective option for larger, ?bulky? tumors.  Radiation therapy can be used at all stages, both before surgery or if surgery fails.  At this point, if the patient has not undergone surgery, some patients may opt for surgery, and still others may simply wait.

If surgery has occurred, and it is found that the cancer has spread through the capsule or into the lymph nodes, the tumor is reclassified as stage III.  At this point, patients may go on to have postoperative radiation therapy.  At this time, studies are being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this procedure.

The prognosis for men with stage III prostate cancer varies depending on the extent of the spread of the disease.   The chances of progression once the cancer has broken through the prostate capsule are about 50/50. If the cancer has been found to have spread to the seminal vesicles the chances of reoccurrence are significantly increased.   One study was conducted where cases of men who were treated with radiation therapy for prostate cancer were revisited 20 years later found that nearly half of the men in the study had eventually succumbed to the disease.  At the same time, nearly as many of the studies? patients had died of other causes with no evidence of a prostate cancer recurrence.

Prostate Cancer Prognosis for Stage IV

Once the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other distant parts of the body, it is reclassified as Stage IV or metastatic prostate cancer.  At this point in the disease, hormone therapy can be used to improve the symptoms for the patient and slow down the progress of the cancer for 2 or 3 years.   If just the lymph nodes are involved, hormonal therapy can have even better success- possibly delaying the progress even further.   Once the lymph nodes have been positively identified as cancerous, the majority of patients will remain at high risk of developing additional metastatic disease in the 10 years following the application of hormonal treatment.   If bone metastases occur they may be less responsive to the hormonal therapy treatments.  Radiation therapy, however, can be used to treat the often painful bone metastases common with stage IV prostate cancer.

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