Prostate Cancer Screening Test

Published on Jun 08 2010, in the categories: Problems, prostate cancer

Cancer is an abnormal disease or medical condition which develops because of these hormonal problems, especially in men, but there are some other factors, quite normal, that can also cause this illness: the inherited genes, the aging process, the living or working environment, what types of foods you often consume and the poor alimentation in nutritional products as well as excessive smoking or alcohol drinking.

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The prostate cancer is one type of cancer affecting a great part of the male population from all around the world; so great that every year one in six men gets to be diagnosed with it.

After the age of forty, both men and women will experience hormonal changes that affect more or less the well functioning of the body; it is the age of the ‘menopause” for women and “andropause” for men, when the levels of estrogen and testosterone decrease and leading to minor health problems than tend to aggravate in time without treatment.

Each type of cancer is unique making this prognosis difficult but a correct treatment can only be prescribed after the grading and the staging processes. The patient will either respond well to that treatment or the treatment will prove ineffective in stopping or delaying the progression of the malignant tumors.

The cancer is in the first stage organ confined, but if the conditions allow it, it can start its spreading to near or far distance areas of the body, infecting vital organs such as the lungs and brain and becoming metastatic.

The spreading process is a slow one because the malignant tumor can double its size once every four years; without any treatment to stop or delay this spreading, the cancer cells will soon enter and travel through the bloodstream and the lymph vessels with the purpose of infecting the whole organism and allow the apparition of small and secondary tumors. This is the main reason why the prostate cancer screening test is recommended to be routinely done; it is better to detect the prostate cancer in its early stages and immediately start a treatment.

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The prostate cancer has no early signs and symptoms but after a period of time, when the tumor already begun its spreading, they will be noticeable. The common reported signs are painful ejaculation, prostate blockage or inflammation, leg pain or ache, urine odor and burning while urinating, urine stream or urinary dribbling, frequent but painful urination, prostatitis and bacterial prostatitis, blood in the semen or urine, urine odor and burning while urinating, etc.; should underline the fact that these symptoms can also be associated with some other prostate disorders such as the benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostatitis so for an accurate diagnose the option would be to immediately contact your doctors and do those prostate cancer screenings. 

The screening tests include two methods of examination: the prostate specific antigen blood tests and the digital rectal exam. The blood tests indicate the levels of the prostate specific antigen which are high if any abnormality is detected or low in normal conditions.

The screening tests for the prostate cancer may have their flaws but still remain the best method of detection; the obtained results have to be interpreted by the medical specialists because they don’t accurately indicate the existence or non-existence of cancer cells.

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The digital rectal exam is quite unpleasant as you can probably tell but it is necessary because when directly palpating the prostate gland with a gloved finger inserted into the rectum, a physician can easily feel whether the size of that gland is normal or if any hardness or lump is felt on the surface. The enlargement of the prostate can directly affect the urinary and sexual activity and if the infect progresses it can lead to the apparition of a prostate cancer.

For an accurate diagnose the prostate biopsy is the next necessary test involving the extraction of different prostate tissue samples. This method of detection can be complemented by newer ones such as the prostate mapping or the nomogram; these procedures can establish the characteristics of a cancer for a better prognosis for its outcome.

Facts On Prostate Cancer

Published on Jun 04 2010, in the categories: Problems, prostate cancer

The prostate is a male specific gland and an important part from the reproductive system because it is responsible with the storing and making of the semen.

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An interesting fact about the prostate is that any hormonal problems can gravely affect its well functioning; it is not uncommon to talk about prostate diseases and disorders such as the benign prostatic hyperplasia or the enlargement of the gland, prostatitis and even cancer.

Cancer is a common disease and the prostate cancer is the second most frequent type of cancer affecting men from all over the world; in America for examples only the lung cancer it is said to cause more deaths than the prostate one.

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Cancer is often regarded as an abnormal medical condition because it develops only when the defensive system of the organism works badly and the normal biological functions such as the apoptosis or the programmed cell death and the mitosis or cell division don’t operate properly.

A more interesting prostate cancer fact is that normal factors such as age, genetic inheritance, alimentation, living environment and even race can be seen as the main causes for such a terrible disease. Usually prevention measures are recommended but some of these factors can not be avoided and this is the main reason why the medical researchers suggest doing the routinely screening tests for an early detection of cancer cells.

In the first stage the malignant tumor is confined in the infected organ but without any treatment or medication to stop or delay its spreading, the size of the tumor doubling once every four years, the cancer cells will eventually reach out from the prostate capsule and infect surrounding and local areas until they reach to far distance regions by traveling through the blood vessels and lymph system, and developing secondary but small tumors near vital organs such as the liver and lungs, infecting even the brain and the entire bone system in the last stage, the metastatic stage.

Another interesting fact about the progression of the prostate cancer is that this disease has no early symptoms or signs to make it detectable in early stages; when the cancer began its spreading process the signs will soon emerge and the commonly reported ones are frequent but painful urination, weak urine stream or urinary dribbling, urine odor and burning while urinating, blood in the semen or urine, prostate blockage or inflammation, painful ejaculation, leg pain or ache, prostatitis and bacterial prostatitis, compression of the spine and other bone related problems, abdomen and chest pain, etc.

The screening tests and the prostate biopsy remain the most efficient methods of identifying a prostate cancer. The screening tests include two methods of detecting: using the prostate specific antigen blood tests to measure the levels of the prostate specific antigen protein which should be low and by using the digital rectal examination performed by palpating the size of the prostate gland by inserting a gloved finger directly into the rectum and determining the size of the gland or searching for any abnormality on the surface of this organ such as a hardness or lump.

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The results of the screening tests have to be interpreted by the medical specialists because they don’t clearly indicate the existence of cancer or not; the prostate biopsy will give an accurate diagnose after analyzing some tissue samples, complemented by new methods of detection such as the prostate mapping or nomogram.

The important facts on the prostate cancer will be established only after the staging and grading processes with the help of the Whitmore-Jewett or TNM staging system and the popular Gleason scale.

Actually, the prognosis for the outcome of the prostate cancer can be difficult and there are two options: whether the patient will respond well to the prescribed treatment or this very treatment will prove to be inefficient in stopping or delaying the progression.

Another reason why the prognosis is challenging is because each cancer has its unique features so the same type of cancer can develop differently in different patients in different periods of time at different stages with different effects.

Every year the prostate cancer medical research departments from all over the world announce discoveries more or less important in the treatment field; the fact remains that the old procedures such as prostatectomy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy are still the best ones available out there.

The medical researchers focus more in understanding the process of spreading and the evolution of cancer and how can they effectively cure it without affecting the general health of a person.

How Bad Is 8 Prostate Cancer

Published on May 29 2010, in the categories: Problems

Each cancer is unique and different patients may report different symptoms in different stages in different periods of time; the prostate cancer has no early signs to make it noticeable in its first stages but there are some common reported symptoms which tend to appear soon after starting its spreading. If any unusual symptoms are noticed without any specific and unidentified cause then the screening tests are recommended. No matter how old this approach of identifying the prostate cancer in its early stages may be the screening tests still remain popular.
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Usually, the spreading process is done by invading the surrounding areas of the prostate, in the first stages the cancer becoming locally advanced and without any proper treatment the cancer will soon become metastatic; that basically means that the cancer cells started their travel to other far regions of the organism through the bloodstream and the lymph system and made possible the apparition of other small, secondary malignant tumors which can infect vital organs such as the lungs or brain.

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Cancer is seen as an abnormal medical condition having as main causes some factors such as the genetic inheritance, because cancer can be inherited by the members of the same family, the aging process, the working environment, alimentation, excessive alcohol drinking and smoking or even race.

The causes mentioned above allow the multiplication and the fast spreading of the cancer cells, first in the infected organ and only after in the entire body. The normal apoptotic reaction and the mitosis fail to function well and because of that the primary tumor slowly increases in size and eventually reaches outside the organ confined site. With these features we can also describe the cancer that affects the male specific gland responsible with the making of the seminal fluid, the prostate.

Usually the prognosis has two results: the patient will respond well to the treatment or the prescribed treatment will prove ineffective in stopping or even delaying the spreading of the tumor. The prognosis is usually challenging just because its results are relative, depending very much on the uniqueness of each cancer but the mortality charts offer some answers about the chances of survival and how will a prostate cancer above a bad grade such as the eight grade for example, will affect the health of that certain patient.

The screening includes the digital rectal examination done by a medical specialist that determines any abnormality with the size of the prostate gland by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum and palpating the presumably infected organ; the prostate specific antigen blood test indicates the levels of the prostate specific antigen protein which in normal circumstances should be low. The results of these tests have to be interpreted by doctors; they will also be responsible for the decision to continue with the medical investigations or not.

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With the help of the prostate biopsy the future diagnose will be as accurate as it can be, especially if this method of detection is complemented by newer ones such as the nomogram or the prostate mapping.

If cancer is detected the main problem will be to answer the question of how bad is eight prostate cancer. First, the characteristics of the prostate cancer will be determined with the grading and staging systems such as the Gleason scale and the TNM (tumor, nodes and metastatic) staging system or its alternative, the Whitmore-Jewett system.

The Gleason score or the sum of primary grade or the majority of the tumor and the secondary grade or the minority of the tumor is different from the Gleason grade, whose numbers range between two and ten, the scores between seven and ten indicating a rapid growing tumor. Usually the higher a score is the more aggressive a cancer can get so it is very important to make an accurate prognosis about the outcome of the prostate cancer and determine approximately how long men with a bad eight grade prostate cancer will get to live.

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After fifteen years the survival rates tend to stabilize and the life expectancies can increase even if the cancer is locally advanced but for the metastatic cancer, the average time of survival is one to three years after the initial diagnose and sometimes the patient will die because of some other health complications.

To prolong the chances of survival for men with advanced prostate cancer the recommended treatments are the radiotherapy, the androgen deprivation therapy and chemotherapy, complemented by the use of strong drugs to increase the treatment’s effectiveness.

Prostate Cancer Grade Mortality

Published on May 19 2010, in the categories: Problems, prostate cancer

As the medical definition says, cancer is an abnormal condition that occurs or develops when the apoptotic reaction or the death of the body cells in normal circumstances and the mitosis or the process when each cell splits into two others stops functioning properly; the cancerous cells soon start their multiplication and growth into malignant and primary tumors.

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These tumors, without any treatment to stop their spreading, will invade the surrounding areas and tissues of the infected organ, until they eventually reach to far distanced parts of the body. The spreading process, depending on each type of cancer, is done through the bloodstream and lymph system. 
These general features apply to all types of cancer, including the prostate cancer.
The prostate is a male-specific gland, localized near the bladder and urethra, and is responsible with the storing and the making of the semen.
Because of a decrease in the level of testosterone, the male-specific hormone, all men will report after the age of forty some changes caused by hormonal problems; this is the aging stage known as “male menopause” or “andropause” and any hormonal unbalances may lead to certain prostate diseases or disorders such as cancer or even benign hyperplasia prostate, simply described as the enlargement of the prostate.
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The prostate cancer has no early symptoms, but when they do appear that only means that the cancer begun its spreading to localized regions, especially to organs and tissues surrounding the prostate. The common reported symptoms are the following: frequent urination or weak urine stream, bone pain, because cancer has a predilection of affecting gravely the bone system, leg and pelvis pain, compression of the spine, prostate-related urinary dribbling, burning or pain while urinating, bacterial prostatitis, prostatitis, abdomen and chest pain, blood in urine or semen, urine odor, prostate blockage, prostate inflammation, etc.
Usually, in the early stages the primary tumor is confined in the gland, but if the cancer cells escape from the prostate capsule and enter the bloodstream or lymph fluid, the spreading can only be delayed or stopped with a proper treatment. Depending on the unique characteristics of each patient’s organism, the treatment may be effective and even cure the cancer but in some cases the cancer will advance gradually until it becomes locally advanced or metastatic in the end stages.
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In some unfortunate cases the cancer can come back in more aggressive forms such as metastases or two or more metastatic tumors in various regions of the body; the spreading can be so complex sometimes that physicians find it hard to identify the primary stage of the tumor so they have to refer to this type of cancer as cancer of unknown primary. 
There is always a possibility of cancer recurrence, so even after the safe period of five years after the initial treatment, doctors can’t say with certainty that the cancer is cured.
In normal conditions, a tumor can double its size once every four years so all men will get to live for at least five years after the initial diagnose but the spreading tends to fasten when the primary tumor made possible the apparition of other small and secondary tumors to far distanced parts of the internal body, sometimes affecting or invading the vital organs such as the liver, the lungs and even the brain.
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According to certain surveys, each year around the world, one of six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Because it is a common disease, doctors recommend the routinely screening tests to identify any early signs of cancer.
The prostate biopsy and the new prostate mapping are the two methods of detection used in obtaining an accurate diagnose; if cancer is detected the immediate step will be to grade and stage the cancer.
The Gleason sum is one and the same with the Gleason score, which is the sum of the primary grade or the majority of tumor and the secondary grade or minority of tumor; these two are different from the Gleason Grade, and their numbers range from two to ten, and the higher the number, the more aggressive the tumor is.
According to the Gleason scale: scores from two to four indicates a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the malignant tumor. The mortality grades depend on these scores; just the same as with the mortality stage.

Prostate Cancer And Seed Implant Radiation

Published on Apr 09 2010, in the categories: Problems

The radiation therapy is a procedure developed in the early twentieth century and has the effect of damaging the DNA of a cancerous cell so that is won’t be able to multiply, consisting, in a first instance, in intraprostatic radium implants and once the radiation sources became stronger, external beam procedure became the popular choice for radiation therapy.

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The radiation therapy is done by using two procedures: the seed implantation method, also known as brachytheraphy or internal beam radiation, describing the direct placing of the treatment at a short distance away from the infected tissue, and the EBRT or external beam radiation therapy, done by directing x-rays with a high energy towards the area with the tumor.

The brachytherapy procedure was invented back in 1901, when Pierre Curie and Henri-Alexandre Danlos decided to experiment a little by inserting the radioactive source into the tumor. The result was the obvious shrinking of the tumor.

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The seed implantation procedure is known as permanent brachytherapy and it is mostly effective in treating the prostate cancer and is done by placing LDR radioactive pellets or seeds, very small in size, into the tumor and leaving them there until they eventually decay.

The two types of brachytherapy used in treating the prostate cancer are the brachytherapy seeds or the permanent low dose radiation, LDR, and the temporary dose radiation or HDR. The first method used palladium-103 and iodine-125, stored in titanium cases, while the second uses one radioactive seed known as an iridium wire because it is made of iridium-194; the operation is done by inserting into the prostate gland and through the perineum, flexible and soft plastic catheters.

Usually brachytherapy has some side effects like urinary incontinence, painful urination, urinary retention, diarrhea, potential rectal bleeding, constipation; but in the case of the seed implantation procedure, there is a possibility, as a side effect, that some of the implanted seeds will migrate out of the region of treatment and go into the urethra or bladder and eventually passed in the urinary liquid.

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Sexual side effects are also common, some patients have reported erectile dysfunction, penis shrinkage or the decrease of the amount of ejaculation. Doctors recommend the use of condoms due to the seed migration possibility through the sperm, but also to masturbate the first few times after this therapy if they don’t want to use the condom.

There are some foods which should be avoided just because they may cause the irritation of the bladder and discomfort: apples, guava, citrus fruits, spicy foods, alcoholic beverages, cranberries, coffee, peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, tea, vinegar, pineapple, plums and also vitamin C or B complex.

If the patients want to choose the seed implantation therapy as the primary treatment they usually have to exhibit the following characteristics: the digital rectal exam shows no spreading of the tumor outside the gland, the PSA level is ten or lower, the Gleason score is six or lower, the prostate gland volume is below sixty grams and the patient is not diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH.

Always consult with your doctor and follow his advices.

Testing For Prostate Cancer

Published on Apr 07 2010, in the categories: Problems

To be diagnosed with cancer, being it a skin or a prostate one, could alter the tranquil lives of all people out there, because, cruel as it might sound, if we are talking about the prostate cancer, all men in danger of being affected by it after the age of forty, if they don’t give to much thought about it and avoid the medical counseling.

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It is true the fact that treatments for the prostate cancer are available but the results depend very much on how advanced is the tumor in the body, so it is probably better to detect this disease in its early stages.

Should note the fact that the prostate cancer has no early symptoms, so the only method to detect the existence of cancerous cells is through the screening tests or the prostate biopsy.

I shall detail these testing methods for a better understanding.

We do know that the cancer is not the only type of disease affecting the prostate gland so for an early and a better diagnose the screening tests are recommended.

These screening tests include two procedures: the digital rectal exam or DRE, when the doctor searches for a hardness or a lump on the surface of the prostate gland by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum, and the prostate specific antigen blood tests or PSA, used as an indicator for determining how spread is the tumor in the organism.

If the PSA test result indicates under four nanograms per milliliter of blood then it is considered as a normal result; the result between four and ten is at the borderline, depending on the patients age, genetic inheritance, symptoms and even race; a result higher than ten is abnormal; also if the values are between thirty and forty that definitely indicates the existence of a prostate cancer.

The results for this testing methods could be either normal, when the cancerous cells are not detected in the prostate gland, or abnormal, when the limit of ten nanograms per milliliter of blood is exceeded. In this later case the doctor will recommend a prostate biopsy.

The biopsy is a procedure described as the withdrawing of one or two small pieces of the prostate tissue, using a needle trans-rectally, all this done under the guidance of the ultrasound images of the prostate area; sometimes biopsies can be done near the lymph nodes, the urinary bladder or the rectum.

If the cancer has spread to the bones, radionuclide bone scans can confirm that, if we are talking about affected surrounding organs coaxial tomography or CAT scans and magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans can tell how much the cancer has spread in these areas; there is also a new method of biopsy known as the prostate mapping that combines the template-guided multiple biopsies with the multi-sequence MRI scans and is done under general anesthetic, by taking thirty to fifty biopsies through the skin area found in front of the back passage.

If cancer is diagnosed, the Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores from two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor; the staging process indicates how spread is the disease, and there are usually four stages: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV.

The treatment will be prescribed according to how advanced is the prostate cancer, but doctors will also take in consideration a patient’s age, health history records and, of course, his preferences.

Prostate Cancer Biopsy

Published on Apr 02 2010, in the categories: Problems

The prostate cancer is, unfortunately, a rather common disease affecting the male population, but it should be underlined the fact that cancer is not the only disease infecting the prostate gland.

Symptoms such as frequent and painful urination, problems of sexual function or blood found in the urine may indicate the existence of cancerous cells or a tumor, but to know for certainty doctors advise the patients to have the screening tests.

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These screening tests are: the digital rectal exam or DRE, when the doctor searches for hardness or lumps on the surface of the prostate gland by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum and the prostate specific antigen blood tests or PSA using as an indicator for the spreading of the cancer the prostate-specific antigen.

Usually when the PSA test result indicates values between ten and forty nanograms per milliliter of blood, it is considered an abnormal result so doctors have to inquire further medical investigations to reach for a correct diagnose.

In this stage the prostate biopsy is not only recommended but also necessary.

The biopsy is a procedure described as the withdrawing of one or two small pieces of the prostate tissue, using a needle trans-rectally, all this being done under the guidance of the ultrasound images of the prostate area.

Biopsies can also be performed near the lymph nodes, the urinary bladder or the rectum.

If the cancer has spread to the bones, radionuclide bone scans can confirm that, if we are talking about affected surrounding organs coaxial tomography or CAT scans and magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans can tell how much the cancer has spread in these areas.

The prostate mapping is a new method of biopsy that combines the template-guided multiple biopsies with the multi-sequence MRI scans and is done under general anesthetic, by taking thirty to fifty biopsies through the skin area found in front of the back passage.

This procedure can have its complications, lasting only for several days or even for weeks, like bleeding in the stool, bleeding in the urine or blood in the ejaculate.

If cancer is diagnosed, the Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores of two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores of five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor; to indicate just how advanced is the prostate cancer, the medical community uses four stages: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV.

In the last stage the patient usually has the following symptoms: weakness in the legs, fecal an urinary incontinence, bone pain; if the cancer had spread to the lungs and liver it will cause breathing problems, chest and abdomen pains; if the spinal cord is affected it can cause the compression of the spine, metastatic cancer will gravely affect the pelvis, the ribs and the vertebrae.

Treatments are used to slow down the multiplying of cancer cells or the growth of a tumor but also for eliminating painful symptoms, so before advising you to choose a treatment procedure, a doctor will always take in consideration a patient’s age, general health details, extent of cancer and last but not least, it’s preferences.

And be careful, sometimes the information gathered from the internet or other unreliable and unprofessional sources could be misleading, so to receive a correct response for all your unanswered questions about the prostate cancer, it would probably be wise to search for a doctor’s advice and counseling.

Does Smoking Cause Prostate Cancer

Published on Apr 01 2010, in the categories: Causes, Problems

Does smoking cause prostate cancer?

This is a rather common question and we hear it everywhere.

The main reason why we do find this type of question is because the prostate cancer is a disease associated only with the male’s reproductive system and the number of

smokers around the world increases with each passing year.

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When they reach a certain age, a man’s internal organism may experience some changes and the metabolism is gravely affected by all those years of smoking which can also cause certain diseases.

Smoking, as well as other factors with a negative impact on your body like the excessive consume of alcohol, animal fats and junk food could just increase the exposure of developing a cancer disease, not only a prostate cancer.

This is precisely the reason why doctors recommend a nutritional diet rich in antioxidants and minerals. For the prevention of the prostate cancer this diet should contain only natural products like vegetables and fruits, but also nutritional supplements such as magnesium, zinc, selenium, lycopene, calcium, resveratrol or phyto-oestrogens with its two groups: isoflavonoids and lignans, found in berries, nuts and cereals, vitamin C in high doses, also vitamin A and E, amino and essential fatty acids, enzymes.

I would like to make things clear about why the prostate cancer is affecting predominately the aged male population.

After the age of forty, in the male organism the level of the hormone associated with the female part, estrogen, and that of the dihydrotestosterone or DHT, a testosterone variant, increases and so enlarging the size of the prostate, while the level of the male hormone, testosterone, declines.

You can not stop the aging process but you could try to improve your ways of life.

And since we talked about age, this has to be the most important factor in causing the development of the prostate cancer, because the risk just increases as time goes by so make sure you seek for a doctor’s counseling and have the screening tests as often as recommended.

The other important causes for the prostate cancer are race and genetic background.

We do know that all types of cancer could be inherited by the members of the same family, and the prostate cancer makes no exception.

As of the race factor, the reasons are yet to be found. What is sure is the fact that American-African men have a higher risk to get prostate cancer in comparison to the American-Caucasian ones. The lowest risk to get prostate cancer is among Hispanic and Asian men, in fact this disease is the rarest among Japanese men living in their home country, Japan.

The prostate cancer is a treatable disease, even the advanced form of prostate cancer has a treatment, but is better to prevent it. If you still have some unanswered questions about the causes of the prostate cancer, you can always seek for a professional advice you know where. And quit smoking!

Prostate Cancer Hormone Therapy Side Effects

Published on Mar 31 2010, in the categories: Problems, Side effects, Therapies

The hormone therapy is generally known under the name of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

This treatment method is included in the list of conventional treatments for prostate cancer, being discovered in 1941 by Charles B. Huggins while conducting several research studies by using estrogen to oppose the production of testosterone. The “chemical castration” is done by depriving the organism of testosterone because it was discovered the fact that the male androgenic hormone is the cause of the rapid growth of the cancerous cells in the prostate gland.

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For this treatment procedure, two drugs are being used: the LH-RH agonists block the LH-RH produced by the organism and the anti-androgenic drugs, stopping the testosterone effects on the prostate.

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The great disadvantage of using this treatment procedure is that the tumor can always reappear, being more aggressive in comparison to the first time.

It is true that each form of treatment has its side effects so you should stay well informed about the procedure you opt for in case you are diagnosed with this disease.

Besides decreasing the quality of life when impotence and breast enlargement known as gynecomastia tend to appear, the side effects of hormone therapy are usually much more serious leading to death sometimes. The androgen deprivation therapy can increase the risk of a coronary artery disease, the result being death caused by a cardiovascular disorder. Statistics have also shown that the hormone treatment significantly increased the risk of death in patients who opted for the surgical procedure or prostatectomy for localized cancer of the prostate.

There is also an increased risk of developing incident diabetes.

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If we are talking about metastatic cancer, the doctor’s suggestion is to keep in balance the negative after effects, like the cardiac risk, with an aggressive nutritional diet, plenty of exercises daily and using lipid lowering drugs.

Hormone therapy can always be complemented with the expectant management or watchful waiting procedure but it would probably be better to consult your doctor about that before deciding.

If you are not satisfied with what you hear about the hormone therapy there are some other conventional treatments you can always choose from. But do keep in mind that we are not talking about what procedure you like the best, we are talking about what treatment method applies better in your case; since the prostate cancer is categorized in different stages, describing how spread is the tumor, there are also treatments available for each type of cancer.

The best option for preventing such a disease is to regularly consult a doctor, perform the screening tests and try to maintain a healthy life by making exercises everyday and eat natural products. This could be the first important step to gain a long life without worries!

Prostate Cancer Side Effects

Published on Mar 30 2010, in the categories: Problems, Side effects

It is a lucky thing that we can talk about prostate cancer treatments, since we do know cancer is a ravaging disease, affecting a great part of the world’s population.

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Side effects do exist though, and each particular treatment procedure may has its own set of side effects.

Basically there are two accepted treatment procedures: the conventional one and the alternative treatment.

The first includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, while the alternative method includes herbal therapy, homeopathy, physical body relaxation exercises, the use of magnetic field and hydrotherapy, etc.

We can’t actually say prostate cancer has side effects, because cancer is a disease that gravelly affects the functioning of the organism, especially when it’s an advanced stage.

The well known prostate cancer symptoms are frequent urination or weak urine stream, burning or pain while urinating, blood in urine or semen, painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness, ache. When we talk about advanced cancer, bone pain is the most common of all, the cancer spreading fast to the lungs and liver causing coughing and chest pains, yellow skin and pain in the abdomen. If the spinal cord is affected by the prostate cancer it can cause a compression of the spine, resulting in weakness or fecal and urinary incontinence.

The side effects of the prostate cancer can actually appear only after we start a treatment, and since the purpose of this article is to talk about the prostate cancer side effects I’ll make a short list, depending on the treatment procedure used.

Surgery, also know as prostatectomy includes the risks of local bleeding, one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of the operation, anesthesia, impotence in about thirty five point five per cent cases or incontinence, in four point five per cent cases. For impotence there are treatments like Viagra or sildenafil tablets, devices to help stiffen the penis, injections with Caverject or the penile prosthesis; incontinence can be treated with medications or by using an artificial sphincter implanted around the urethra.

The radiation therapy is the second most common form of conventional treatment and its side effect are incontinence or impotence.

Cancerous cells tend to reappear after some time and the great disadvantage of the androgen deprivation therapy is its temporary effectiveness and serious side effects like cardiovascular diseases, breast enlargement or impotence.

Besides the evident hair loss, chemotherapy has its own set of side effects, even though we are talking about a long lasting treatment procedure, used even in leukemia cases.

Cryotherapy is the newest medical treatment procedure and its side effects are still being studied. The results gathered until today concluded that it may cause fistulas that leak urine, infections, the blockage of the urethra and sometimes an ineffectiveness of the freezing liquid inserted to kill the cancerous cells.

There are many other side effects and the doctor is responsible of keeping the patient informed about it. You are probably wondering why only conventional treatment side effects are mentioned. Usually the medical approach of curing a disease could be regarded as a bit more radical just because we are talking about a direct intervention on the damaged area of the body. This exact radical approach can have different results and even if we talk about a definite cure for the disease the side effects may still exist.

A correct treatment may decrease the number of the side effects.