The prostate is a gland with the size of a walnut, found only in the male reproductive system, storing and making the seminal fluid; its location is below the bladder, near the rectum and surrounding the urethra.

The prostate cancer is one type of cancer affecting the prostate gland and is described as the abnormal condition of the rapid and uncontrollable growth of the body cells and the apparition of the cancerous cells.

The spreading process is done by invading the neighboring tissues, through the lymph vessels and lymph nodes or by traveling through the bloodstream to far away tissues so the tumor is organ-confined, locally advanced or metastatic.





There are no early symptoms to indicate the existence of the tumor inside the prostate gland, but when the cancer starts advancing symptoms tend to appear shortly afterward: frequent urination or weak urine stream, burning or pain while urinating, blood in urine or semen, painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness, ache, frequent bone pain, pain in the abdomen, compression of the spine resulting in leg weakness or incontinence.

The screening tests and the prostate biopsies are the medical procedures used for detecting the cancer in its early stages. In the unfortunate case when cancer is diagnosed the staging process will be the next step the doctors will make.

The TNM system or the Whitmore-Jewett staging system will be used to indicate exactly how far spread is the cancer and what treatment would be recommended in this case.

There are usually four stages. The last are obviously stage III or C and stage IV or D.

In stage III the tumor has barely spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate; the Whitmore-Jewett system divide stage C into substage C1 when the cancerous cells have spread through the capsule containing the prostate and  substage C2 when the cancer began to block the urine flown from the ureters or the bladder outlet.

In stage IV or stage D the cancer is metastasized and has spread to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes; the symptoms found in this late stage are chest pains and coughing if the lungs are affected, yellow skin and unbearable pains in the abdomen if the malignant tumor has spread to the liver and it will cause a compression of the spine, resulting in muscle weakness or fecal and urinary incontinence. Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis and the ribs, and untreated it will eventually lead to death.

It is unfortunate the fact that some treatments used in the fighting against the prostate cancer could cause death as side-effects. As an example, if prostatectomy is carried out there will always be a risk of local bleeding and as recent survey had shown, almost one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of the operation.

Hormone treatment significantly increased the risk of death for patients who opted for prostatectomy to treat the localized form of prostate cancer.

Of course, there is always the possibility of cancer recurrence so doctors have to adopt some extreme treatment procedures to eliminate the existing cancerous cells and sometimes the side-effects can not be avoided.

Doctors are aware about this so they will always give information about the treatment options in minute details. Value your life and make sure to prevent such a terrible disease by always staying informed about it.