Every year, all around the world, one in six men gets to be diagnosed with a prostate cancer while in America, the prostate cancer is on the second place, after the lung cancer, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of men.

The prostate is a male specific organ, responsible with the making of the semen, so usually, after the age of forty, when all men experience the so-called “andropause” or “male menopause”, any hormonal problems and unbalances may lead to the apparition of some prostate disorders and diseases such as prostatitis, the benign prostatic hyperplasia and cancer.



Cancer is diagnosed only when the existence of cancer cells or a malignant tumor is detected and since there are no early symptoms to make this disease noticeable in its early stages, the screening tests are often recommended.

The results of the screening tests have to be interpreted by doctors because they don’t give an accurate diagnose whether the cancer exists or not or if it is organ confined or locally advanced. For example, with the digital rectal exam the physician will palpate with a gloved finger inserted into the rectum the size of the prostate and determine whether an abnormal lump or hardness is felt on the surface of the presumably infected gland and the prostate specific antigen blood tests can only indicate the level of the prostate specific antigen protein, which should be low in normal circumstances, making this test a tumor and biological marker.

If cancer is detected early, the survival rates can only increase, especially if the patient responds well to the prescribed treatment.

An accurate diagnose can be obtained only with the help of the prostate biopsy complemented by a nomogram or the prostate mapping method.

The prognosis is relevant in the cases when doctors wish to determine the characteristics of a cancer; unfortunately, each cancer is unique and that means that the same type of cancer could develop in different periods of time, at different stages in different patients, with different treatment results, making the prognosis challenging.

The chances of fifteen year survival rate are of seventy seven percent and usually after this period of time the survival rates tend to stabilize; the lifetime probability to develop cancer is of sixteen percent and if cancer is detected early there is a ninety eight percent chance of survival at least for five years after the initial diagnose.

If cancer is detected, the grading and staging will be very important for prescribing the right form of treatment. The staging is done with the Whitmore-Jewett staging system or the TNM, tumor, nodes and metastatic system; according to these systems there are four stages of prostate cancer the last being the stage of metastatic cancer.

The apparition of a prostate cancer depends on certain factors such as the aging process, race and genetic inheritance and even the working environment; the progression of a prostate cancer is done steadily, the tumor doubling its size once every four years.

The spreading process is done through the lymph system and bloodstream until the primary tumor, in the first stage being organ confined, affects the surrounding organs and tissues and gives birth to other secondary and small tumors. These tumors can become metastatic and affect vital organs such as the liver, lungs and brain.

The prostate cancer has the predilection of affecting gravely the bone structures so even though the signs of a prostate cancer tend to appear only when the cancer beings its evolution the bones can be affected even in the first stages. If some unusual bone pains are felt this is a definitive sign that a person must immediately contact his personal doctor. The radionuclide bone scans, the coaxial tomography or the magnetic resonance imaging or MRI can confirm if the cancer has spread to the bone system or not and in general the bone lesions are osteoblastic, osteolytic or mixed.



The two major prognosis for the outcome of the prostate cancer indicate a challenging treatment or the patient will respond well to the treatment; for the locally advanced cancer the survival rates can be prolonged but the metastatic cancer will prove merciless and the chances of survival, even with a proper treatment such as the hormone therapy or radiotherapy, will drop at low levels.