Prostate Cancer

The prostate is a gland situated in the male reproductive system, and its found bellow the bladder, in front of the rectum. It surrounds the part of the urethra just bellow the bladder, the tube that empties the bladder, and produces a fluid which forms a part of the content of the semen. Prostate cancer is that type of cancer that forms in the tissues of the prostate, and usually the older man presents prostate cancer.

The chances to render sick of prostate cancer increases substantially as you get older, usually after the age of 50. But beside the age, the main risk factors can be the ethnicity, the higher risk is encountered more at African men, the family history is a well known reason, the risk of the disease is higher if someone of your family had or has prostate cancer, the diet is also a factor, in specially the diet abundant in fats, vasectomy increased the risks, but the high level of testosterone too. If you know the risk factors and the symptoms, you can easily discover if you are ill and you’ll go earlier to the doctor. Thus, the chances to cure are bigger.

Even the most men have no symptoms, here are some ways to find out if you are ill or not. Most men find out that they are ill when they are examined through a digital rectal procedure, but usually the symptoms appears when the tumor causes urinary blockage, located in the bladder neck or urethra. Some of men accuse difficulty during the urination, usually at start or stop of the urinary stream, or appears the urinary retention, blood in the urine, impotence because of the disability to have an erection. In the last phase of the disease, when the prostate cancer has spread, appears fatigue, malaise and weight loss, bone pain and bone fractures. Those symptoms provide you warrant going to see a doctor and take your treatment.

The treatment consists in radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery. The radiation can be EBRT, External-beam radiation therapy, which is using X-rays to kill the cells affected by cancer; radioactive seed implants, these are implanted into the prostate. In some cases hormone therapy is used, this is the therapy which is using male sex hormones or androgens. The surgery is based on radical prostatectomy, the removal of the prostate, which is divided in two methods: retropublic surgery and perineal surgery; the chemotherapy is using chemicals which have the role to destroy quickly the cells which are growing, but there is cryotherapy too, which is destroying the cells through freezing. In early stages the best method is the watchful waiting, using blood tests, because the prostate cancer can’t be prevented, this is the best way to reduce the risks too.

Nowadays, is not known methods for prevention. But doctors give us some useful advices, like: eat well without fat diets, make exercises regular, don’t take too many drugs, only when it’s necessary, after 40-50 years go to annual examinations, and try to have a healthy life. The healthy life it’s important in the prevention of the prostate cancer, but not only it.

Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer Research Institute |