Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer that affects men. In the USA over 30.000 men die of prostate cancer every year. In the UK prostate cancer overtook lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed tumor in 2002. With these statistics it is very important that men get treatment for this disease. Here is a list of famous people with prostate cancer, many of whom are still alive.



Famous people with prostate cancer:
Harry Belafonte- Singer and actor; Bob Dole- World Former Republican senator from Kansas; Robert De Niro- Actor, director; Emperor Akihito of Japan; Louis Farrakhan- Civil right activist, leader of the Nation of Islam; Rudy Giuliani- Former New York City mayor; Charlton Heston- Actor; John Kerry -Vietnam veteran, Democratic senator of Massachusetts; Nelson Mandela -South African Former President, Anti-apartheid activist, Lawyer; Francois Mitterand- Former President of France; Roger Moore- Actor; Arnold Palmer- Golfer; Colin Powell- Retired Secretary of State, Army general; Norman Schwarzkopf- Retired Army general; Joe Torre -New York Yankees manager; Frank Zappa -Singer and writer

Causes of prostate cancer - The main causes that lead to prostate cancer are heredity, hormonal profile of men, usually aged over 65 years, diagnosis of prostate adenoma, vasectomy, or prostate infections. The incidence of prostate cancer is higher in people of color in the U.S. the number of cases of prostate cancer in black population is two times higher than that encountered in the Caucasian population.

The incidence of prostate cancer - The incidence of prostate cancer increases with age. "The incidence of prostate cancer increases, and as prostate cancer occurs more frequently affected and the age decreases. May be very young men to have prostate cancer, even thirty years old men. The disease is so common that, at 80 years old, more than 80% of men are suffering from prostate cancer ", explain doctors.

Diagnosis of prostate cancer - For diagnosis of prostate cancer is necessary to determine the prostate-specific antigen with an ultrasound conducting the urinary system and prostate. If these assessments are abnormal, correlated with digital rectal exam, ultrasound is necessary for transects and those areas that are abnormal will allow the ultrasound to determine the diagnosis. There is another method to determine prostate cancer, and that is the biopsy, which means extracting tissue from the prostate with very small needles and then examine the tissue under the microscope in order to determine if the patient has prostate cancer or not.

Prostate Cancer - Depending on the type of cancer cells, their degree of spread outside the prostate, age and presence of other illnesses, people with prostate cancer have one or more methods of treatment. For men who have an aggressive form of prostate cancer, but the cancer cells have not yet spread outside the prostate, will suffer a  prostatectomy (surgery that removes the prostate) and radiotherapy (used to kill cancer cells). Hormone therapy is prescribed for men with prostate cancer that has spread in the body.

Treatment with iodine is a new procedure as follows: after the cancer was identified in the prostate, data is entered in the computer, establishing thus the amount of radioactive iodine to be administered. Preventing prostate cancer - Recently, researchers have found that moderate doses of vitamin E can prevent prostate cancer.