The prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer, the first being skin cancer; as the name goes this type of cancer affects only the prostate gland, found in the male’s reproductive system. Cancer is a problematic disease since nothing is known for certain about it. What we do know are some of its causes, the symptoms the patients often report and treatments to stop its evolution. Causes like age, genetic background, race, a high diet in animal fats, excessive drinking and smoking or secondhand smoking could be held responsible for the apparition of the tumors. Some patients are affected more or less by this disease, depending on how far advanced the tumor is. There are no early symptoms to indicate the existence of cancerous cells or an organ-confined tumor, so doctors can diagnose the prostate cancer only with the help of the screening tests, the prostate specific antigen blood tests and the uncomfortable digital rectal exam, or the prostate biopsy.

When the cancer begins its spreading process and the cancerous cells enter the bloodstream or the lymph vessels, the symptoms will eventually make noticeable the evolution of this disease in the organism. Patients report symptoms such as frequent urination or weak urine stream, blood in urine or semen, burning or pain while urinating, painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness, ache. If the cancer is in its advanced form, the bone pain is the most common reported symptom, because metastatic cancer has the predilection of affecting first the bone structures; eventually the cancer will spread fast to the lungs and liver causing coughing, chest pains, pain in the abdomen and give a yellow skin appearance. When the cancer reaches the spinal cord it will cause spinal compression leading to muscle weakness and incontinence, fecal or urinary.

The real effects of the prostate cancer will be felt only after the prescription of a treatment. Some patients will respond well to it but some may even experience terrible pains because of those treatments. Usually a powerful treatment has some serious side effects. For example, surgery or prostatectomy, is a procedure defined as the complete removal of the prostate gland. If the tumor is organ-confined the surgery may have some rather good results but if the tumor began its spreading, surgery will only increase the risk of dying. Once the cancerous cells have entered the bloodstream or the lymph vessels, the cancer will spread at a rapid pace, until it becomes metastasized, leading eventually to slow and painful death if it is left untreated. Even with a proper treatment we can’t say for certainty that the cancer will be cured, because there is always a small possibility the cancer to be recurrent.

According to a survey, one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of local bleeding when prostatectomy is done, in about thirty five point five per cent of the cases the patient will report impotence as a side-effect and in four point five per cent of the cases, incontinence. The hormone therapy or the androgen deprivation therapy can cause some serious physical changes like breast enlargement or impotence and sometimes cardiovascular disorders. The radiation therapy is the second most popular conventional treatment procedure, with effects such as impotence and incontinence, constipation, diarrhea, rectal bleeding. Doctors 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 rest of the treatment procedures have some side-affects as well but to get to know this better you should contact your personal doctor and request for an advice if you get to be diagnosed with a prostate cancer. As you probably noticed, the more powerful a treatment is, the more drastic are its side effects. Always stay informed about this disease and regularly do those screening tests.