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.



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.