The prostate cancer is one type of cancer affecting only the male specific organ, in this case the prostate, found in the reproductive system. Although there are many other diseases or disorders such as the prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, the benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostatitis which may affect the prostate organ, only when the tumor is malignant the cancer will develop. This tumor, in the first stage, is organ confined but after four years it could double its size, becoming locally advanced and eventually metastatic. It is recommended for the patient to start immediately a treatment. Since there are no early symptoms to indicate the existence of the cancerous cells, for men over forty or more doctors recommend the screening tests, and only if the results are somewhat abnormal, the prostate biopsy will offer some better or clearer results for a correct diagnose.

Usually treatments are prescribed depending on some factors such as the person’s age, the personal preferences of the patient or the stage of the cancer. This is one of the reasons why the staging process is so important. The patient will respond well to a treatment only if the tumor is not too far advanced. For example, prostatectomy doesn’t present any benefic results if the cancer reached the other surrounding organs of the prostate such as the urethra or the bladder. In some cases the original tumor is not even found in the prostate gland, like in the case of the transitional cell carcinoma which is a rare type of cancer.

It would probably be better to avoid or to prevent this disease as much as possible by always staying informed about it. Some of the prostate cancer causes are inherited, like the genes, some we can not get rid of even if we want to, like race and we surely know that we can not stop the cruel aging process. As I’ve stated above, there are no early symptoms to help us detect the existence of the prostate cancer, but its effects are noticeable once the tumor starts spreading and the patient starts following a treatment. There are two methods of treatment: the conventional or medical treatment, used entirely by doctors and the alternative treatment or Complementary and Alternative Medicines Treatments (CAM) including therapies such as: herbal therapy, hydrotherapy, homeopathy, magnetic fields therapy and exercises for relaxation. The herbal therapy is the most popular alternative treatment method, but up until now, no food combination or a particular category of foods had the result of curing this disease nor be blamed for its apparition or recurrence.



Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis, the ribs and the important internal organs and in the unfortunate case when the patient doesn’t respond well to the prescribed treatment this disease will eventually lead to death. The conventional treatments can have some serious after effects and I shall give just some small examples. The radiation therapy could be regarded as one of the most popular conventional treatment procedures patients usually opt for but its common side effects are impotence and incontinence, constipation, diarrhea, rectal bleeding. Doctors also recommend a safe sex after this procedure because sometimes the radioactive seeds implanted in the gland could migrate to other regions surrounding the gland. The most common treatment procedure is surgery or prostatectomy, but this operation has as well, some serious after effects and as a survey had demonstrated one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of local bleeding when this treatment procedure is done, while in four point five per cent of the cases the patients will report incontinence and in almost thirty six per cent of the cases, impotence. The risk of death as a side effect is not associated only with surgery. The androgen deprivation therapy or the hormone therapy can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases which could eventually lead to death. This treatment therapy is a rather new one so the after effects are still being studied by the medical community but it is known the fact that when the body is deprived of testosterone, after effects such as impotence or breast enlargement are not rare. Injecting chemical substances into the body, as chemotherapy does, can increase the number of after effects which may affect the good functioning of the organism. The rest of the treatments also present some after effects but doctors will know better how to explain in great details a treatment method.