Prostate Cancer: Definition, Causes, Treatment, Facts, Diagnosis
Health // January 1, 2018
Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in a man’s prostate, the small, walnut-sized gland that is responsible for producing seminal fluid. Seminal fluid is produced by a man’s prostate to nourish and transport sperm. Typically, prostate cancer begins growing slowly in a man’s prostate gland, where it may not cause much harm. Prostate cancer begins to develop when cells in the prostate become abnormal and when mutations in the abnormal cells’ DNA cause the cells to grow quicker than normal cells and divide more rapidly than normal. Even when other cells die, the abnormal cells remain and accumulate to form a tumor. The abnormal cells can then invade the nearby tissue and even metastasize, or spread to other parts of a person’s body.
While sometimes there are no symptoms present whatsoever, one common symptom of prostate cancer include pain or difficulty when urinating. Other symptoms include decreased force or pressure in the stream of urine, blood in semen, erectile dysfunction, bone pain, and discomfort in the groin or pelvic areas. There are many factors that increase a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer. Some of those factors include age (risk increases as a man ages), race (prostate cancer seems to be more aggressive in black men), family history of prostate cancer, family history of breast cancer or genes that indicate high risk for breast cancer (BRCA1 and BRCA2), and obesity. Prostate cancer can be diagnosed through regular prostate screening, which may include regular digital rectal exams (DREs) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, which uses blood drawn from a vein in the arm to search for the presence of higher levels of PSA, which is an indicator for prostate cancer. If the DRE or PSA test comes back with abnormal results, a doctor may decide to use further testing such as ultrasounds or prostate biopsies (collecting a tissue sample from the prostate through a minor procedure). There are many different types of prostate cancer--some that grow slowly and some that grow quicker and more aggressively. Higher grades of prostate cancer indicate a more aggressive cancer that can spread quicker. A scale commonly used to determine the grade of the prostate cancer is the Gleason score, which combines two numbers to get a score between 2 (non aggressive cancer) and 10 (very aggressive cancer). The two numbers are derived from biopsy samples, which a pathologist will use to assign one Gleason grade to the more predominant pattern of cells and assign a second Gleason grade to the second most predominant pattern (this is all determined based on how the cancer cells look under a microscope). Treatment for prostate cancer includes monitoring (without more aggressive treatment), radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and hormone therapy. For slow-growing prostate cancer, close monitoring may be the only treatment plan necessary. Aside from regular checkups men can also use preventative care to lower their risk for prostate cancer. They can eat a balanced, nutrient-filled diet, exercise regularly (most days of the week), lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, and have regular conversations with medical professionals about certain medications or lifestyle adjustments that lower risk for prostate cancer. |
ABOUT MEI'm Stephanie and I'm an MD and run this blog to educate people about Prostate Cancer. |