Advanced age can be a risk factor for Shy Drager syndrome as in prostate cancer. As in prostate cancer the real causes for this syndrome can't be proved scientifically. The testing that can be done for Shy Drager syndrome are common test. One of them might be blood tests done for prostate cancer also.
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The difference between prostate cancer and Shy Drager syndrome is that this has no cure while there are cases men cured of prostate cancer. For Shy Drager syndrome there are therapies aimed for controlling symptoms. While for prostate cancer exist some guidelines of preventing it for Shy Drager syndrome there are none.

One of the disorders of the nervous system is Shy Drager syndrome. People affected by this syndrome lose the control of their nervous system they have involuntary bladder discharge or bowel movements also the blood pressure suffers. Shy Drager syndrome has visible symptoms that makes easier identification. First symptom is given by involuntary nerves.

People who change position standing or sitting up suffer fainting and dizziness. After a meal or in the morning the dizziness can be worse. They feel muscle weakness. In the area of the neck and shoulders will feel ache. Diarrhea and constipation are also a frequent symptoms.  Sexual life of people affected by Shy Drager syndrome is seriously affected because of the loss of sex drive and erectile dysfunction. The only part of the Shy Drager syndrome that is treatable is the orthostatic hypotension.

Progressive degeneration of central  nervous system is not treatable. L-dopa and other medication used in  cases with Parkinson disease may be helpful. The salt and fluids in an increased dose can relieve low blood pressure while standing. Physicians can prescribe under strict monitoring salt retaining steroids that are often necessary to elevate blood pressure. Patient that have breathing difficulties can be fed through artificial tube or breathing tube to be able to swallow.

There is a great risk of misdiagnose for this syndrome and when it happens can't be considered an anecdotal experience because this can lead to adverse drug effects that can threaten the life of the patient. One of the symptoms of this syndrome is hypotension and that's why in many cases patients can get treated only for this. It is common practice not to perform extensive investigation if the systolic pressure is above 80 mm.
There are three types of Shy Drager syndrome such as MSA mixed cerebellar and Parkinson-ian form, MSA Parkinson-ian form similar to Parkinson disease and Olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA).

Prostate cancer is another disease that can occur frequently to men over 50. The good news about prostate cancer is that if found in early stage there is a high survival rate and cure.The evolution of prostate cancer is slow and many men can survive. Men suffering Shy-Drager syndrome have a smaller chance of surviving. They can only hope to see revolutionary treatment during their life. The death occurs due to pneumonia that usually develops after 7 to 10 years after the first symptoms have emerged. Men with Shy Drager syndrome should prepare in advance what will they do because this affect nervous system.

The prostate cancer diagnose consist of giving it a grade and a stage. Grading is different than staging that represents the determination of the extent for the cancer or the spread to other body parts. For staging of prostate cancer are used two systems The Whitmore-Jewett with staging from A to D and sub stages for précised definition. The other system is TNM in which T represents the extent of primary tumor, N the presence or absences in nearby lymph nodes or glands of metastasis, and M the presences or absence of distant metastasis.
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The angiogenesis is the process from witch can develop prostate cancer metastasis. When malignant cells will spread into another body with the formation of new blood vessels we can call it angiogenesis. This malignant cell will become lodged in lymph nodes and bones. From that point the cells will start dividing without control.

During the advanced prostate cancer is the most likely to occur metastasis.  This refers to the moment where prostate cancer has left the prostate gland and the neighboring organs. Advanced prostate cancer can be associated with bone metastasis, lymph node metastasis that can be local or distant and advanced prostate cancer bone metastasis. The function of lymph nodes is to filter the fluid called lymph. The lymph contains white blood cells and circulates through the lymphatic system. When cancerous cell circulate through the body the lymph node can trap them and then the cancerous cells begin their division thus resulting lymph node metastasis.

When we speak about lymph node metastasis we can divide it into local and distant. The clinical stage N1 designates the local lymph node metastasis. The two lymph nodes that lay either side of the bladder are close to prostate gland and the metastasis is considered local. When the cancerous cell begins development end multiplication in other lymph node we speak about distant metastasis.

This metastasis is noted with the stage M1a. Stiffness, frequent soreness in hips, thighs or lower back these are the symptoms of advanced prostate cancer. The pain is felt differently by every patient.  Some of them have to begin an external radiation therapy or chemotherapy to alleviate the pain that is associated with bone cancer.

Prostate cancer with bone metastasis is classified according his origin. Patient with advanced prostate cancer are prone to development of bone cancer.  Many patient will die having prostate cancer rather than because of it and will not reach the advanced stages of prostate cancer. Viable options of treatment are watchful waiting. Trough chemotherapy the dividing cells are quickly destroyed. The effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment lies on the speed of malignant cell dividing; if they divide faster the chemotherapy will be more efficient.

Small and otherwise undetectable lymph node metastases in patients with prostate cancer can be detected using High resolution MRI with magnetic nano-particles. The advanced prostate cancer can be declared when the disease has reached clinical stage T3 and T4. In the early stages of disease the prostate cancer symptoms can be caused by advanced prostate cancer with bone metastasis or lymph node metastasis. The M and N clinical staging are what usually doctors check for metastasis and lymph node metastasis.

The prostate is composed of acinar glands and the corresponding ducts placed in a radial fashion, with the stroma containing blood vessels, lymphatic system and nerves. 95% of prostate cancers are acinar adenocarcinomas.

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The genetics of prostate cancer are not widely known. Researchers have begun to identify genetic markers and warning signs of prostate cancer. For example, the Hereditary Prostate Cancer 1 (1 HPC), a gene detected in 1996 appears to significantly predispose men to prostate cancer when mutated, thus it is now considered one of the major warning signs of prostate cancer. The reproductive system is the one affected by prostate cancer. The age prevalence of patients with prostate cancer is the 6th or 7th decade, with the average age of prostate cancer diagnosis of prostate cancer being 71.

Warning signs of prostate cancer: Prostate cancer can be asymptomatic in early stages or advanced stages of the disease. Digital rectal exams show the swelling or irregularities of the prostate. Patients with prostate cancer have a hard consistency of the prostate, localized or diffuse. Specific symptoms include the obstruction of the bladder orifice. Prostate cancer patients have acute urinary retention and rarely they notice blood in the urine or sperm. There migh also be a urinary tract infection or bone pain, weight loss, anemia, shortness of breath, lymphedema and lymphadenopathy.

The causes of prostate cancer are still unknown but there were identified some risk factors. Incidence increases with age. Prostate cancer is rare under the age of 40 years and is primarily a disease of men after 65 years of age. Some foods seem to have a protective effect. A 9 year study published in 1995 suggests that tomato products protect against prostate cancer probably because tomatoes are rich in a substance called Lycopene.

Lycopene is an antioxidant, a chemical agent that inhibits cellular oxidation processes. Excessive cellular oxidation can be hazardous to health because it produces molecules called free radicals. Also, preliminary results of a study in Finland show that in the long term, moderate doses of vitamin E as an antioxidant can prevent prostate tumor growth.

So if you are young (and restless) for the moment you need not worry about prostate cancer, but what you can do is gather information on the prevention of this disease and on the elements that favor its occurrence. You might also want to change your diet and lifestyle, not only to prevent prostate cancer, but also against other horrible and possibly fatal diseases that can attack you at any moment if you are not one to take care of your body.

For example, some of the best things you could do are to quit smoking and quit drinking. Really! The benefits outweigh the discomfort you might be feeling when you first quit, and in time you will be feeling a whole lot better in your own skin. Try it. You have nothing to lose an everything to gain. Add to that the fact that smoking, with the new EU and US regulations, is becoming a pretty expensive habit, and also a nasty one, and the money you spend on cigarettes could be used to achieve higher, and why not healthier, goals.

A study, the first one of this kind, conducted by a team of researchers of the Tropical Hygiene and Medicine school in London, on 1.9 million people from 31 countries, over 20 countries in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Algeria and Cuba, showed that prostate cancer survival rates differ from one country to another. For example, in the USA is registered the best percentage, especially among Caucasian people.

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Researchers compared the prostate cancer survival rates of 5 years between 1990 and 1994. Generally speaking, taking into consideration all cancer types, the best survival rates were registered in North America, followed by Australia, Japan and Occidental Europe. The least survival rates were registered in Algeria, where the researchers could only conduct the studies in the area of Setif.



As for breast cancer and prostate cancer, the best survival rates were registered in the United States of America. Japan has the largest percentage of survival rates for colorectal cancer for men and France- for colorectal cancer for women. The five year survival rate varies from 11.4% in colorectal cancer in men to 38.8% in breast cancer. In the United States of America, the numbers go from 56.4% in colorectal cancer in men to 91.1 % in prostate cancer. In France, the cancer survival rates go from 52.8% in rectal cancer to 79.8% for breast cancer.

The most significant cancer survival rates are in Occidental Europe, with less than 40% in prostate cancer in Denmark and 80% in Austria for the same type of cancer. In the United States of America, the cancer survival rate for Afro-Americans is worse than for Caucasians, with a difference of 7% for breast cancer and prostate cancer. Researchers believe these differences are caused by bad diagnosis and wrong treatment of some doctors.

The presence of three genetic defects favors prostate cancer survival rates, decreasing the cancer survival rate after the occurrence of this disease. Because at the time of the diagnosis doctors are not conscious of how the disease is going to progress (if it is a more hostile or a slower evolution), the treatment is one of the crucial aspects. A simple test could inform on the presence of the three genetic defects which would allow doctors to prescribe a more forceful treatment, which could eventually increase the cancer survival rate for the patient.



Statistics show that only 14% of patients who have the three genetic defects live for more than 11 years, compared to 85% of those who do not present all the three genetic defects. Unfortunately, there are just few patients who present all the three defective genes, according to an article available in the British Journal of Cancer. According to Professor Colin Cooper, some patients have such a slow evolution after being diagnosed with prostate cancer that they just simply do not require any kind of treatment. On the other hand some patients diagnosed with prostate cancer have such an aggressive evolution of this disease that the disease may become fatal shortly after the diagnosis.

By anatomical disposition, the prostate surrounds the first part of the urethra. Most patients with prostatic pathology claim low urinary suffering, without a specific area. The prostate cancer is also subject to this relation, but the impact of the urinary symptoms sparked by prostate cancer on the patient’s quality if life is variable. In most cases, the establishing of a diagnosis in due time is delayed.

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The clinical manifestations of prostate cancer are, in most cases, similar to those of benign hypertrophy in the prostate. The urinary symptoms dominate the clinical panel, which, in some cases, can favor errors in diagnosis. What are the symptoms of the patient? - The patients could claim often urination during the day and the night, difficulty when urinating, difficult initiation of the urination, interrupted urinary jet, impossibility of urination.



The loss of urine in the blood may occur as single symptom in prostate cancer patients and it has nothing characteristic suggesting the existence of prostatic neoplasia. Urinary incontinence can complete the clinical panel of the prostate cancer in cases of local neoplasia invasion of the external urethral sphincter. The loss of blood in the sperm can be a sign of prostate cancer, but is a seldom symptom.

There are situations in which the first symptom is renal insufficiency, accompanied by bilateral lumbar pain. Patients of medium age with major erectile dysfunction, with impotence, need to know that this can be caused by the invasion of the neurovascular bandelets. Wide bone metastasis, aside from pain, spontaneous fractures, can also produce severe anemia, through the invasion of the bone marrow.

Metastases in the internal ganglion groups can lead to an increase in the lymph node’s volume and the occurrence of urethral blockage, sometimes bilaterally. There is also a connection between high fever and advanced prostate cancer. Respiratory symptoms, dry coughing, sometimes accompanied by dyspnea and fever, can be due to the prostate cancer when there are pulmonary metastases. Prostate cancer can lead to the almost complete obstruction of the rectal lumen, which is clinically visible through constipation and sometimes rectal bleeding. High fever and prostate cancer have been shown to be connected in rare cases.

Investigation protocol - For prostate cancer, investigations need to contain, aside from a rectal digital examination, the level of prostate specific antigens in the blood. The protocol also needs to include image testing. Diagnosis is only confirmed following a transrectal ecography and a prostatic bioptic puncture. What the patient needs to know before examination - Transrectal puncture is performed after prior preparations, which include:
-therapy with antibiotics (for protection against potential infection complications);
-an enema on the morning of the examination;
-interruption of antiaggregant medication if need be. For example aspirin;
-on the day of examination, the patient will not eat anything and will only drink fluids.



The main therapeutic options in prostate cancer - Curative treatment is achieved through the complete removal of the prostate (radical prostatectomy), cryogenic surgery, brachytherapy  (method of radiotherapy that consists of radioactive implants, within or near the tumor) which may or may not be accompanied by hormone therapy. Palliative treatment consists of estrogen therapy, the removal of the testes and chemotherapy.

If you are not sure whether you are suffering from bladder cancer or prostate problem, then you should know what bladder cancer is and how it behaves

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General information - Bladder cancer represents a rapid proliferation of some abnormal cellular lines in the urinary bladder (the urinary bladder is that part of the urinary tract which stores urine). There can be one or more cancers developed at the same time in various regions of the urinary bladder. More than 80% of bladder cancers are diagnosed in early stages of the disease.



The etiology of bladder cancer is not fully known. Anomalies of the genetic material in the bladder epithelium cells can be involved in the occurrence of this type of cancer. Still, there is a three times higher frequency of bladder cancer occurrence noticed in smokers. Studies have shown that smoking determines 50% to 60% of bladder cancer cases in men and 25% of bladder cancer in women.

Risk factors for bladder cancer include the following: - smoking is the main risk factor; - people aged above 40 are more predisposed to bladder cancer - the masculine sex; men have four times more chances to develop bladder cancer than women - the Caucasian race develops twice as many bladder cancer cases as Hispanics or African Americans; Asians present a low risk of bladder cancer; - professional exposure to chemicals: workers in the chemical industry, the textile industry, working with paint, leather and wood are more predisposed to bladder cancer; - an infection with the parasite called Schistosoma haematobium - abusive use of medicine with pain killing effects - treatment with cyclophosphamide - arsenic - a diet rich in nitrates, meat and fat - chronic cystitis (infections of the urinary bladder) especially in patients subject to permanent catheterization - a personal history of bladder cancer or kidney transplant - hereditary and collateral priors of bladder cancer in the family - radiotherapy or chemotherapy for uterine or ovarian cancer.

These risk factors are more commonly met in developing countries than they are in the United Sates of America. The most frequent symptoms of bladder cancer are: - blood in the urine, which occurs in 80% to 90% of patients with bladder cancer; this symptom is usually painless - dysuria – discomfort during urination; - repeated urination in small quantities - frequent infections of the urinary tract.



These symptoms are non specific, and they occur in other urinary afflictions as well. So if you want to know whether you have a bladder cancer or prostate problem, here are the symptoms indicating advanced stages of the bladder cancer: - lumbar pain or pain in the flank - edema – swelling of the legs - the occurrence of pelvic tumorous masses in the area of the bladder. Other symptoms encountered in advanced bladder cancer include: - weight loss - pain in the bones, rectum, anus or in the pelvic region - anemia. You need to go to a specialist when you see the following symptoms: blood in the urine, discomfort while urinating, urinating often and in small quantities, lumbar or flank pain.

We can’t speak only of advanced prostate cancer and rib pain without first knowing what prostate cancer is and what we are dealing with. Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in men aged more than 45, and represents the second cause of fatality, by neoplasia, after lung cancer.

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At the moment, this type of cancer seems to be gaining ground in the world, due mostly to greater longevity in the population, and also due to the progress seen in the technology meant to discover this type of cancer. From a hystiological standpoint, most of the cases involve an adenocarcinoma (or glandular epitelioma). This cancer is most often developed starting from the peripheral caudal portion of the gland, far from the urethra, which determines a sort of latency, as the signs of compression on the urinary tract occur late in the evolution.



The local, regional and lymphatic extension of the disease: after the intra-capsular stage, manifested through urethral compression, the cancer progresses in a centrifugal manner, towards the bladder, the rectum, the pelvis, lymph ducts and lymph nodes. Metastatic extensions dominated by bone metastasis (20-70%), where there can be a connection between advanced prostate cancer and rib pain, usually located in the bone marrow, but also near the liver, pleura, lungs, etc. These latter locations, however, are less frequent.

The symptoms include urinating disorders. These are present in 80% of cases. For local and regional expansion, symptoms include: revelatory anuria, flebitis, lymphedema. Diagnosis is issued based on: the presence of revelatory clinical urinary and bone signs (pain in the bones), a rectal digital examination, the clinical examination for the detection of mechanical complications, metastatic localizations in the liver and lymph nodes, additional examinations; SPA – specific prostatic antigen, alkaline phosphatase, endorectal ultrasonic scan, prostatic biopsy.

These primary diagnosis criteria are associated with: standard radiology (to outline metastatic extensions to the pelvis, eachis, urinary tract), bone scintigraphy, tomodensitometry; standard biological analysis: hematologic, metabolic, hepatic, renal.

The treatment of prostate cancer, regardless of the stage, is established based on: the existence of a hystiologically confirmed diagnosis, the stage of the tumor, life expectancy. Localized prostate cancer imposes two types of therapeutic attitude, depending on the life expectancy, evolution and aggressiveness of the disease, appreciated through the evolution of the prostate specific antigens and through bioptic examination: monitoring the patient, radical treatment through radical prostatectomy and external radiotherapy. Non localized prostate cancer includes: advanced cancer, without metastasis, and advanced cancer with metastasis.



The treatment of metastasized cancer is mostly palliative and involves the improvement of life quality for the patient. Prostate cancers are, most of them, androgen dependents, which is why the goal is an androgenic suppression by: chemical castration (orhiectomy or bilateral pulpectomy), medical castration using LHRH analogues (triptorelin), the association of one of the above methods with the administration of an anti-androgenic, to extend action to the supra-renal androgens, not only the testicular androgen. The choice of treatment will be made in accordance with official prostate cancer treatment guides, depending on the clinical conditions, the undesirable effects of the treatment and, last but not at all least, the choice made by the patient.