The prostate cancer is one type of cancer among many other, that affects only the male body because the cancer cell start developing in the male specific gland, the prostate, which is responsible with the making of the semen.

This type of cancer may be cause by any hormonal unbalances, which tend to happen after the age of forty when men experience a decrease of the level of testosterone; other disorders such as the benign hyperplasia prostate can develop because of those hormone problems, manifesting itself as the growth or enlargement of the gland.

Cancer is a disease which develops whenever the defensive system of our body fails to protect us and when mitosis, or the normal cell division, and the apoptotic reaction, or the normal death of a cell, stops functioning.

Cancer is an abnormal medical condition and the malignant tumor, being in the first stages confined in the infected organ, can start its spreading process to the surrounding areas of the gland until it reaches far distanced regions and creating other small and secondary tumors.

Should be pointed out the fact that the prostate cancer has no early symptoms to make it noticeable in the first stages, and that, depending on each individual, those symptoms can be reported sooner or later, depending on how far advanced or locally advanced the cancer is.

There are certain features that make each cancer unique and that basically means that the same type of cancer can affect differently each patient and at different rates. This is one of the reasons why prescribing the right treatment capn be such a hard task.

Usually the spreading process is noticed because of some common reported signs such as prostate blockage, bacterial prostatitis, prostatitis, blood in urine or semen, prostate inflammation, frequent urination or weak urine stream, painful ejaculation, prostate-related urinary dribbling, burning or pain while urinating, abdomen and chest pain, compression of the spine, leg pain, ache, urine odor, stiffness, etc.

The screening tests don’t actually indicate the non-existence or existence of cancer but with the prostate specific antigen blood test, which is a biological and tumor marker, doctors can determine the normal levels of the PSA which should be low if there aren’t signs of cancer cells and with the unpleasant examination known as the digital rectal exam, the direct palpating of the gland helps determine any abnormality with the size of the gland or if a lump or hardness exists on the surface of the prostate.

The grading is done with the help of the Gleason scale; a high grade indicates an aggressive or advanced tumor.

In the first stages the malignant tumor is confined or found only in the prostate gland being organ-confined and on the staging system that means stage I and II; when the cancerous cell have reached outside the prostate capsule and entered the bloodstream, lymph system or lymph fluid, the cancer becomes locally advanced or stage III. The last stage is IV and the cancer is usually metastatic because the primary tumor had created some other secondary tumors in the far regions of the body such as the liver, lungs, bone system or even brain.

The possibility of cancer recurrence still exists, even after the safe period of five years after the initial treatment, and sometimes the cancer can come back in more aggressive forms like the metastases or the existence of two or more metastatic tumors.

Every year, new discoveries in the treatment research department are announced but that fact remains that none of them have proved more effective than the common chemotherapy, prostatectomy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy or even cryotherapy.

Some common factors such as the aging process, race or genetic inheritance are to be blamed for the apparition of prostate cancer but leading a healthy life and preventing the development of other common prostate disorders should not be disregarded since it can change the life-course of a person.

Each year, prostate cancer awareness campaigns are conducted in all the regions of the world, allowing the doctors to detect in almost four million men the existence of an early cancer, all with the help of the screening tests. Prostate cancer is almost one hundred per cent survivable if it is detected in the earliest stages. Between September the nineteenth and twenty fifth, 2010 the Prostate cancer awareness week will be organized by the Prostate Conditions Education Council, with hundreds of sites for free screening.

Awareness can lead to a better understanding of this disease and increase the possibility of preventing it.