Prostate Cancer – Causes – Stages & Treatment
Cancer is unrequired growth of body tissue due to certain factors. Cancer can occur at any parts of the body including mouth, prostate, colon, blood, breast. In cancer, the body tissue of certain part proliferates rapidly in uncontrolled and unretirement amount. Cancer is generally classified as malignant and non-malignant cancer. Cancer can affect other parts and finally spreading all over the body whereas in malignant does not.
Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that affects the prostate gland in man which produces seminal fluid and helps in transportation of sperm.
Prostate cancer is now a worldwide problem among middle-aged man. It has seriously affected the life and health of a person. It is one of the most common cancer among men. Firstly prostate cancer grows inside the prostate gland slowly. It grows slowly so sometimes minimal treatment can cure prostate cancer in early stages.
However, some prostate cancer grows rapidly than expected, and treatment becomes a very challenging task.
Prostate cancer comes with many health problems such as weakness, lack of sexual performance, difficulty in urination, pain.
Table of Contents
Prostate cancer causes
It is not clear what causes prostate cancer. The doctor has suggested that unnecessary proliferation of certain cell can cause cancer in the prostate. There is a certain risk factor involving with prostate cancer which includes.
Age: as the person becomes old, the risk of prostate cancer increases. Prostate cancer is normally seen in above 40 years old men.
Race: there is no definite answer which race suffers more for prostate cancer. But reports suggest they are more cases of black men who have prostate cancer.
Obesity: prostate cancer case numbers are large in people suffering from overweight and obesity problems.
Genetic factors: gene might also cause prostate cancer. The chance of a person having prostate is high any of their family members have it.
Prostate cancer signs and symptoms
Prostate cancer shows very few sign and symptoms in early days. But during advanced stages, signs and symptoms are seen in a significant amount. Some of the common sign includes
- Difficulty in urination
- Low sexual performance
- Pain in lower abdominal area
- Blood in semen
- Erectile dysfunction
Prostate cancer stages
Health professional will use the PSA test and your Gleason score to define the stage of prostate cancer. It helps a doctor to come up with a treatment plan for your prostate cancer.
However some professional takes into account the size of a tumor, some involved lymph nodes, wheater the tumor has affected the other organ near the site to classify stages of prostate cancer.
Generally, prostate cancer is classified in stages from 1 to 4 where 1 is the earliest stage which required minimal treatment, and four is a most advanced stage which treatment will be extremely challenging.
Prostate cancer test
There are some tests which can help doctors to find out whether you have prostate cancer or not. The diagnosis test might involve physical test and health history profile. Some diagnosis test include
Rectal exam: In this exam, your doctor will insert a rubber-gloved hand through the rectum to check the condition of the prostate. Doctors can feel any hard lumps which can confirm the presence of a tumor.
Prostate-specific antigen: Specific prostate antigen is tested from the bloodstream to find out whether a person has prostate cancer or not.
Prostate biopsy: Biopsy is a method to check wheater a person has cancer or not. The doctor will extract fluid or tissue from the prostate to check for cancer.
There are many another test to confirm cancer in the prostate which includes computed tomography, magnetic imaging ranging and a bone skin.
Prostate cancer treatment
The doctor will come off with a plan to treat your prostate cancer-based health, age and size of a tumor on patients. If the cancer is not the aggressive doctor will suggest for active surveillance rather than aggressive treatment method. Aggressive treatment method includes surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, Hormone therapy.
Surgery
It is one of the most common used the method in the treatment of prostate cancer. The damaged tissue of prostate cancer is cut out with surgery and stopped from spreading to other tissue. If the cancer is spread out surgery might not be the best option.
Radiation
Radiation of appropriate wavelength is used to destroy cancer suffered from cells of prostate glands.
Chemotherapy
Toxic chemicals which will help to kill damaged tissue of the prostate is applied to the body for treatment of cancer
Hormone therapy
stereotactic radiosurgery
Prostate Cancer Survival Rate:
Prostate cancer can easily be treated if diagnosed in early stages.
However, treatment of prostate cancer in advanced stage challenging and difficult. The survival rate can rapidly decrease in later stages of prostate cancer.
So preventing the chances of prostate cancer is the best way for treatment. A healthy diet and regular exercise will rapidly decrease the chance of prostate cancer.