Cancer is not a typical disease but a rather common one and is often seen as an abnormal medical condition which occurs whenever the apoptotic reaction and the mitosis, or is simpler words, the normal division and death of a cell, are interrupted or stop functioning, leading to an increase in the number of the cancer cells and the apparition of a malignant tumor.

The spreading process is done through the lymph system or the bloodstream, when the cancerous cells have escaped from the prostate capsule and entered the blood vessels to reach and infect far distanced organs and tissues, sometimes the vital organs such as the lungs or brain.



These general features can be found in all types of cancer, especially the prostate cancer.

This cancer affects only the prostate gland, which is responsible for the making and storing of the semen, obviously being an organ specific to the male reproductive system.

There are no early symptoms to make the prostate cancer noticeable in its early stages but according to certain surveys, one in six men will get to be diagnosed with a prostate cancer in his lifetime.

The more advanced the cancer is, the more difficult the treating could be and this is the main reason why doctors recommend the routinely screening tests to identify any signs of cancerous cells; with the digital rectal exam the physician palpates the prostate to feel its size; the prostate specific antigen blood test is a tumor marker and with it doctors can determine the levels of the prostate specific antigen, which in normal circumstanced should be low. In other words, these tests don’t actually show the existence or non-existence of a malignant tumor; rather doctors have to interpret the results and decide whether the medical investigation should continue or not. If the results are abnormal, the prostate biopsy, complemented with a new method of detection, the prostate mapping, will give an accurate diagnose.



The cancer survival statistics or survival rates identify the percentage of patients who survive a certain type of cancer for a determined amount of time. These cancer statistics use a five year survival rate and as an example, the determined five years survival rate for people diagnosed with prostate cancer is of ninety eight percent and that basically means that 98 out of 100 men were still living five years after the initial diagnose or two our of 100 men had died in this survival period of time because of the prostate cancer.

The five year survival rate includes men of all health conditions and ages, as well as those diagnosed very early or some very late. Some types of survival rates offer accurate information about the progression free survival rate or the number of people who are affected by cancer but their disease isn’t progressing, including those who had responded well to the prescribed treatments and the disease free survival rate or the number of men who achieved remission or the cancer had been completely cured.

The survival statistics can be used by doctors to understand better your prognosis or your chances to achieve remission, depending also on other factors such as age and general health and to develop a treatment plan, depending of the treatments results obtained by other patients with the same stage and type of cancer as your own. This decision also depends on other factors such as the number of side-effects, the general pros and cons of each treatment alternative, etc.

The survival rates or statistics are based on hundreds of people with the similar cancer characteristics but things can get a little frustrating because, as I’ve mentioned before, each cancer is unique and all these results are relative and can only give you a general idea of how this disease evolves in people with similar types of cancer as yours but no survival rate can give an accurate response about who will your cancer progress.

The survival rates are very important when you have to decide for a treatment option and can give you some information about the latest treatments.



You can choose to ignore these survival characteristics but the best thing about them is that they can lessen your anxieties; the worst part is that they are confusing and frightening and can generate some unhealthy ideas.

The help a doctor can give is irreplaceable so always seek for his advice if you still have some unanswered questions about the prostate cancer.