Answers To Some Of The More Commonly Asked Prostate Cancer Questions
Get some answers to commonly asked prostate cancer questions: How Common Is Prostate Cancer? Among men of a certain age bracket prostate cancer is very common.
The risk of having the disease increases with age.
Men between the ages of 45 to 80 account for 95% of diagnosed prostate cancer cases.
This type of cancer rates 2nd as the most common cancer among men, the first being lung cancer.
Heredity plays a large part in the chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Diagnosing Prostate Cancer To diagnose prostate cancerseveral methods are used including PSA Blood Test, x-rays, biopsies and digital rectal examinations.
The PSA method is the most common method of diagnosis.
All testing for prostate cancer requires multiple tests to confirm a positive result that one indeed has the illness.
Treating Prostate Cancer The good news is that in many cases prostate cancer grows slowly and does not usually require treatment.
Since prostate cancer is more commonly found in elderly men, a patient will die from other causes before the prostate cancer fully develops.
Since many patients develop prostate cancer slowly, they are placed on "watchful waiting", where the patient undergoes routineobservation and testing.
If the prostate cancer becomes an actual threat to the life of the patient, other courses of treatment are then employed including: surgery, hormone therapy and radio therapy.
Radiation treatment (radio therapy), involves high energy waves to kill the individual prostate cancer cells.
This kills the tumors and results in reduction of the patient's pain due to the cancer effecting the surrounding bones.
Another treatment uses radioactive pellets placed into the tumor itself, this is called brachytherapy.
This treatment has had mixed results but also produces fewer side effects for the prostate cancer patient.
Inhibiting the androgens produced by the blood is called hormone therapy.
Androgens are what make prostate cancer cells grow and inhibiting them also inhibits the cancer cells.
Problem: after awhile prostate cancer tumors start to grow again without androgens, so other forms of treatment must be employed.
Removing the prostate gland surgically, a procedure called prostatectomy, has several variations, including: --Transurethral prostate reconstruction.
A portion of the prostate is removed with the use of a long, thin device which the surgeon inserts through the urethra.
Blockage of urine is also relieved using this method.
--Radical perineal prostatectomy.
Complete removal of the prostate and surrounding lymphnodes begins where the surgeon makes a long cut in the abdomen.
--Pelvic lymphadenectomy.
Here, the lymph nodes in the pelvic area are removed and checked for cancerous growth.
Prostate Cancer And Your Sex Life Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, sometimes accompany prostate cancer treatments.
Urinary incontinence, lower sex drive, reduced ejaculation, bowel problems and excessive fatigue are some possible side effects of some treatment methods.
Careful consideration should accompany deciding on any particular methods of prostate cancer treatment since each method carries its own set of side effects.
The risk of having the disease increases with age.
Men between the ages of 45 to 80 account for 95% of diagnosed prostate cancer cases.
This type of cancer rates 2nd as the most common cancer among men, the first being lung cancer.
Heredity plays a large part in the chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Diagnosing Prostate Cancer To diagnose prostate cancerseveral methods are used including PSA Blood Test, x-rays, biopsies and digital rectal examinations.
The PSA method is the most common method of diagnosis.
All testing for prostate cancer requires multiple tests to confirm a positive result that one indeed has the illness.
Treating Prostate Cancer The good news is that in many cases prostate cancer grows slowly and does not usually require treatment.
Since prostate cancer is more commonly found in elderly men, a patient will die from other causes before the prostate cancer fully develops.
Since many patients develop prostate cancer slowly, they are placed on "watchful waiting", where the patient undergoes routineobservation and testing.
If the prostate cancer becomes an actual threat to the life of the patient, other courses of treatment are then employed including: surgery, hormone therapy and radio therapy.
Radiation treatment (radio therapy), involves high energy waves to kill the individual prostate cancer cells.
This kills the tumors and results in reduction of the patient's pain due to the cancer effecting the surrounding bones.
Another treatment uses radioactive pellets placed into the tumor itself, this is called brachytherapy.
This treatment has had mixed results but also produces fewer side effects for the prostate cancer patient.
Inhibiting the androgens produced by the blood is called hormone therapy.
Androgens are what make prostate cancer cells grow and inhibiting them also inhibits the cancer cells.
Problem: after awhile prostate cancer tumors start to grow again without androgens, so other forms of treatment must be employed.
Removing the prostate gland surgically, a procedure called prostatectomy, has several variations, including: --Transurethral prostate reconstruction.
A portion of the prostate is removed with the use of a long, thin device which the surgeon inserts through the urethra.
Blockage of urine is also relieved using this method.
--Radical perineal prostatectomy.
Complete removal of the prostate and surrounding lymphnodes begins where the surgeon makes a long cut in the abdomen.
--Pelvic lymphadenectomy.
Here, the lymph nodes in the pelvic area are removed and checked for cancerous growth.
Prostate Cancer And Your Sex Life Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, sometimes accompany prostate cancer treatments.
Urinary incontinence, lower sex drive, reduced ejaculation, bowel problems and excessive fatigue are some possible side effects of some treatment methods.
Careful consideration should accompany deciding on any particular methods of prostate cancer treatment since each method carries its own set of side effects.
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