The abnormal condition, which occurs when cancerous cells appear and start to grow at a rapid pace and multiply at an uncontrollable speed while the normal ones have an even shorter life span, is known under the name of cancer; cancer allows the spreading process of the primary tumor, in the early stage being found only in the primary site, to other surrounding areas of the infected part of the body; this malignant tumor will determine the growth of other new and secondary tumors, small in size, until the cancer becomes locally advanced and eventually, metastasized.

If the cancerous cells have reached out from the prostate capsule and entered the lymph, a clear fluid which is carried to the heart through the lymph vessels, or bloodstream, it is expected from them to invade the whole body, especially the bone system.

If the cancer is detected in the early stages it can also be curable but sometimes the cancer is so far advanced and distanced that physicians find it hard to identify the exact body part where the primary tumor is: in this situation the medical community refers to this disease as cancer of unknown primary; if two or more metastatic tumors are detected in the body we refer to this situation as metastases.

A patient must be aware of the fact that cancer is a treatable disease and sometimes we can dare say curable, if the minimum five years after treating the cancer have passed without any sign or recurrence; if the cancer is recurrent and comes back as metastases, we refer to this situation as distant recurrence.

The metastasized cancer will affect bone structures such as the ribs, the humerus, the femur, the pelvis or hip, the leg bones, and in the worst case scenario the skull and the spinal cord. Usually the distant bones are not affected, especially if the patient starts immediately a treatment, but men should be aware of the fact that the bone structures are the third most common location invaded by the malignant tumors.

The metastatic bone lesions are characterized as osteolytic, osteoblastic or mixed and the symptoms associated bone metastasis are pain, hypercalcemia and pathological fractures;

pain is felt because the tumor will stretch the periosteum and stimulate the nerves in the endosteum.

The coaxial tomography, the radionuclide bone scans or the magnetic resonance imaging or MRI can confirm if the cancer has spread to the bones or not; the recommended treatments for prostate cancer bone mets are the radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy damages the DNA of a cancerous cell to stop its multiplication and can cause its death. There are two known radiation procedures: brachytheraphy or internal beam radiation is done by inserting small radioactive seeds or pellets, the size of a rice grain, into the gland, through needles to avoid the damaging of the surrounding organs or tissues and left in there to slowly decay; the proton beam therapy or internal beam therapy is a complex form of treatment, successfully replacing the Cobalt-60 gamma-ray therapy or the x-ray therapy.

Chemotherapy is a treatment procedure that uses chemicals to oppose and kill the cancerous cells or micro-organisms; in general chemotherapy causes the death of all the fast dividing cells, even under normal circumstances: hair follicles, digestive tract or bone marrow. Because of this the common side-effects are hair loss or alopecia, the decreased production of blood cells, a condition known as myelosuppression and the inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract or mucositis.

There are several types of chemotherapy treatments: neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy, combines modality chemotherapy or palliative chemotherapy.

The chemotherapeutic drugs are antimetabolites, plant alkaloids, alkylating agents, anthracyclines, topoisomerase inhibitors and antitumour agents.

Doctors will know exactly what to prescribe in your situation so make sure to follow their advices.