Prostate cancer develops due to the growth of abnormal cells in the prostate. Prostrate is the gland found in front of the rectum and below the bladder. It is the size of a walnut and releases the seminal fluid that carries sperms. This is found only in males. With an estimated 164,690 estimated cases worldwide, it is important to stay aware of the different aspects of this disease.
Symptoms
It has been observed that there are no symptoms in the early stages of prostate cancer. But later on some symptoms might show up such as:
- Difficulty in urination
- Feeling a frequent and urgent need to urinate
- Burning or painful urination
- Pain or pressure present in the rectum
- Experiencing difficulty in erection or ejaculation
- Finding semen or blood in urine
- Experiencing pain in the upper thighs, hips or lower back
Experiencing these symptoms does not necessarily mean that you have prostate cancer but it is advisable to consult a doctor if these do occur.
Apart from these symptoms, there are some causes or risk factors as well.
Family history: Family history plays a huge role as you can develop this cancer if you have a first degree male relative with the condition. Risks are higher in the following two cases:
- If more than one male relative has the disease.
- If male relatives were diagnosed with cancer when they were young.
Age: It should be noted that prostate cancer is dependent on age. This means that as ones age increases so do the chances of developing it. The risk increases a lot after 80 years of age.
Genetics: Thousands of genes control the way cells develop and behave. Changes in genes can potentially increase the risk of prostate cancer being transferred from parent to child. It should be kept in mind that while it’s not possible to inherit prostate cancer itself, but it is indeed possible to inherit the genes which can increase the risk.
Lifestyle and diet: It has been observed that consuming a lot of processed meat, food products which are high in fat or even living in a certain kind of environment can increase the risk of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer screening
While a routine checkup is ideally a good idea many people might not realize the importance of it at an early stage. This is because of a few reasons:
- Slow moving nature of most prostate cancer cases.
- Some men who have prostate cancer have lived healthy lives while suffering from the cancer. This is mostly prevalent in older men and is termed as Active Surveillance.
But there are benefits of screening which include:
- Early detection, and thus, offering a better chance of survival by curing the disease.
- It may also inform you that you don’t need to treat your cancer at all.
- It will prevent relapse as well.
As for everything else, the process and method of screening or diagnosis should be discussed with the patient before going for the same. The earlier the diagnosis, the better are the chances to survive and treat the disease.
