Screening And Diagnostic Test For Prostate Cancer
In an attempt to detect prostate cancer at its earliest stage, it is recommended that the digital rectal examination and prostate specific antigen test be performed during routine annual examinations starting at the age of 5o. However, if there is a family history of prostate cancer or if the man is African-American, then annual testing should begin at age 45. Screening can also be performed in response to a patient exhibiting one or more of the symptoms mentioned previously.
1% of men suffer with prostate cancer that does not produce an elevated PSA level. Conversely, the PSA test may indicate the presence of the disease when it cannot be palpated.
It should be kept in mind that an elevated PSA level is not synonymous with prostate cancer. There are a number of conditions other than cancer that can result in this elevation.
For example, PSA level normally increases with age or with an enlarged prostate that is either the result of normal growth as a men ages or due to infection or inflammation . It also increases for a day or two after ejaculation. It is also possible for certain prescribed medication and herbal supplements that are advertised for prostate health to decrease PSA levels, potentially masking any elevation that may occur in the PSA level.
A patient should notify his healthcare provider of all medications, vitamins, and dietary supplements being taken because they may have an effect on test results.
Age The Younger People Survive
People above the age of 55 are very unlikely to survive prostate cancer. Only 7% of diagnosed prostrate cancer die within the first five years. Studies show that the risk of getting prostate cancer increases with age, and the speed at which cancer spreads grows exponentially too. People younger than the age of 40 rarely contract prostate cancer, and when they do, almost all of them are cured easily.
Surgically Removing The Prostate Gland
A radical prostatectomy is the surgical removal of your prostate gland. This treatment is an option for curing prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate or has not spread very far.
Like any operation, this surgery carries some risks, such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
In extremely rare cases, problems arising after surgery can be fatal.
It’s possible that prostate cancer can come back again after treatment. Your doctor should be able to explain the risk of your cancer coming back after treatment, based on things like your PSA level and the stage of your cancer.
Studies have shown that radiotherapy after prostate removal surgery may increase the chances of a cure, although research is still being carried out into when it should be used after surgery.
After a radical prostatectomy, you’ll no longer ejaculate during sex. This means you will not be able to have a child through sexual intercourse.
You may want to ask your doctors about storing a sperm sample before the operation so it can be used later for in vitro fertilisation .
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There Are Three Ways That Cancer Spreads In The Body
Cancer can spread through tissue, the lymph system, and the blood:
- Tissue. The cancer spreads from where it began by growing into nearby areas.
- Lymph system. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the lymph system. The cancer travels through the lymph vessels to other parts of the body.
- Blood. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the blood. The cancer travels through the blood vessels to other parts of the body.
Home Remedies For Prostate Cancer
Following are some significantly useful natural remedies for treating prostate cancer at home
Ginger Ginger is thought of as a miracle natural cure for prostate cancer. Recently, the British Journal of Nutrition published an American study which showed evidence that extract of ginger killed the prostate cancer cells. On the other hand, it boosted the health of the normal prostate cells diminishing cell death. In 8 weeks, the extract had slashed the growth of tumor in the prostate gland by half. According to the researchers, if 100 grams of fresh ginger is eaten by the affected person every day, it will have the same results. Ginger is a potent chemopreventive agent with anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and antioxidant properties. Ginger extract has growth-inhibitory effects on cancer cells which interrupt the progression of the cell cycle, modulating apoptosis. Besides, ginger, when taken orally, is also exceedingly helpful in relieving nausea or vomiting resulting from chemotherapy. Ginger extract for cancer is often sold in herbal medicine stores. Besides, you can drink the fresh juice of raw ginger mixed with honey for controlling prostate cancer.
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Can People With Advanced Prostate Cancer Enroll In Clinical Trials
Major organizations such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend this course of action for all cancer patients. Researchers are exploring several new ways of diagnosing, monitoring, and treating prostate cancer. Clinical trials test the safety and effectiveness of these new methods and treatments. There are risks and limitations in every clinical trial. For example, you may be assigned to the “control” group, and not get the new medicine. In that case, the control medicine is the best therapy already available. Placebo — or ineffective treatment — is rarely if ever used anymore, and if it will be used in the trial, you would be informed. Keep in mind that the new medicine under investigation in the clinical trial may not work. But clinical trials also offer early access to new treatments.
You can find out more about clinical trials by asking a medical oncologist, inquiring at an academic medical center, or browsing a clinical trials listing service. The National Institutes of Health lists clinical trials at www.clinicaltrials.gov.
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Choosing To Stop Treatment Or Choosing No Treatment At All
For some people, when treatments have been tried and are no longer controlling the cancer, it could be time to weigh the benefits and risks of continuing to try new treatments. Whether or not you continue treatment, there are still things you can do to help maintain or improve your quality of life.
Some people, especially if the cancer is advanced, might not want to be treated at all. There are many reasons you might decide not to get cancer treatment, but its important to talk to your doctors and you make that decision. Remember that even if you choose not to treat the cancer, you can still get supportive care to help with pain or other symptoms.
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Impact Of Age On Treatment
The rising number of men diagnosed with prostate cancer is a result of increasing life expectancy as well as the current practice of screening by prostate-specific antigen blood tests. Besides PSA and Gleason score, age is considered a key prognostic factor in treatment decision making. Although organ-confined disease can be cured by radical prostatectomy and full-dose local radiation therapy, treatment options for advanced- stage disease remain palliative. They include active surveillance, or watchful waiting, early versus delayed hormonal therapy to control disease progression, and continuous or intermittent androgen deprivation. Observational studies of older men with early stage disease have suggested conservative management as a viable option.,
Chodak and associates evaluated 828 men who were managed expectantly in a series of nonrandomized trials. Median follow-up was approximately 6.5 years. Patients with poorly differentiated cancers had a 10-fold increased risk of death from prostate cancer as compared with men showing highly differentiated prostate cancer. A 5-year disease-specific survival of only 34% was found in men with poorly differentiated prostate cancer. In contrast a 5-year disease-specific survival of 87% was described in men with well-or moderately differentiated cancers.
Helping People Imagine Their Future
The hardest thing we can do as physicians is help patients envision their future selves, Dr. Buyyounouski said. So patient-reported outcomes are very helpful, because you can tell patients exactly what side effects people had, and the frequency and bother of those side effects at points in time.
For many, he added, the trade-off in more side effects right after treatment will be worth it for a shorter treatment duration.
Unless youve been a patient, its hard for folks to imagine all the things that need to happen for somebody to go and get treatment every for weeks, Dr. Buyyounouski said.
Theres transportation costs, gas, parking, co-pays. And there are costs associated with the things youre not doing, like time away from work or responsibilities at home. Its more than just the medical bills.
I think people are itching to shorten the treatment because there are a lot of patients for whom its a barrier to getting treatment. And radiation therapy is a potentially curative treatment, added Dr. Citrin. So, making it easier for patients without increasing the long-term side effects is a huge win.
However, a less-intensive standard course of radiation will still likely appeal to some people, she added, especially if they are experiencing ongoing side effects from surgery.
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Can Prostate Cancer Be Completely Cured
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men. The average age of diagnosis is 66 year olds, although it may affect younger men as well. By age 80, more than half of all men have some cancerous growth in their prostate.
Due to routine screening of prostate-specific antigen levels in the United States, nearly 90% of prostate cancers get detected in early stages. In most cases, the cancer is confined only to the prostate and does not spread to other organs. With the widespread use of screening tests in the United States, early diagnosis of prostate cancer has become much easier.
When found early, there are several treatment options available and prostate cancer has a high chance of getting cured. Moreover, prostate cancer is a slow-growing cancer that takes many years to become big enough to cause symptoms. It also takes quite long to spread to other organs. This gives sufficient time for the doctors to treat it.
Oncologists recommend patients to not rush and take some time to understand the various treatment options available after consulting with more than one doctor. Patients can discuss various modes of treatment with the doctor and select the most appropriate option for their prostate cancer.
The 5-year survival rate for most men with local or regional prostate cancer is nearly 100%. There are more than three million survivors of prostate cancer in the United States today.
After Prostate Cancer Has Been Diagnosed Tests Are Done To Find Out If Cancer Cells Have Spread Within The Prostate Or To Other Parts Of The Body
The process used to find out if cancer has spread within theprostate or to other parts of the body is called staging. The information gathered from the staging process determines the stage of the disease. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment. The results of the tests used to diagnoseprostate cancer are often also used to stage the disease. In prostate cancer, staging tests may not be done unless the patient has symptoms or signs that the cancer has spread, such as bone pain, a high PSA level, or a high Gleason score.
The following tests and procedures also may be used in the staging process:
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What Should Patients Know About Msks Approach To Treating Prostate Cancer
At MSK, we manage prostate cancer in a very comprehensive way, tailored to each patients disease and to the individual person. There is no one specific therapy that is best for everyone.
Our initial assessment includes a carefully evaluated biopsy and a very detailed MRI to show the location of the disease, the integrity or soundness of the capsule surrounding the prostate, and the amount of disease. Then, based on that information and with input from the urologist, the radiation oncologist, and the medical oncologist we can provide a comprehensive recommendation.
The radiotherapy we do here at MSK is state-of-the-art and unparalleled. We are the only center in the world to do MRI-based treatment planning. When we give brachytherapy, we use computer software that provides us with real-time information about the quality and accuracy of the seed implant during the procedure. This allows us to make adjustments while the patient is still under anesthesia, so that when the procedure is completed, we have been able to achieve ideal placement of the radiation seeds. This translates into improved outcomes.
For more advanced disease, we have ongoing studies in which we combine novel hormonal therapy agents with radiation to achieve better results. Even the way we follow our patients after treatment is unique, with carefully sequenced MRI checks that give us opportunities to monitor patients extremely closely.
Radiation Therapy: Effective For Prostate Cancer
Research published in the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology in 2015 shows that external-beam radiation therapy is a highly effective treatment option for prostate cancer.
Men with localised prostate cancer who are treated with external-beam radiation therapy have a cure rate of 95.5% for intermediate-risk prostate cancer and 91.3% for high-risk prostate cancer.
The 5-year survival rate using this treatment is 98.8% overall.
When compared to other common treatment options such as surgery or brachytherapy, external-beam was as effective and in some cases more effective.
A/Prof Tom Shakespeare, Radiation Oncologist at the North Coast Cancer Institute, led the eight year study comparing the effectiveness of external-beam radiation therapy with other common treatment options such as surgery or brachytherapy.
The main outcome that we have seen from this study is that external-beam radiation therapy is one of the most effective treatment options for prostate cancer, he said.
These are great results showing that radiation therapy is as effective, or even better, than other common treatment options such as surgery or brachytherapy.
In fact, based on the literature reviewed, it appears that external-beam radiation therapy is a superior treatment in some cases.
When patients are treated with modern external-beam radiation therapy, the overall cure rate was 93.3% with a metastasis-free survival rate at 5 years of 96.9%.
Unfortunately, this does not always happen.
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The First Question If You’ve Been Diagnosed With It Is: Can Prostate Cancer Be Cured With Early Detection And Todays Treatments The Survival Rate Is High
Can prostate cancer be cured? With todays treatments, the prostate cancer cure rate is high when the disease is found early enough and managed appropriately.
Receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer is shockingso much so that you might not fully process anything your doctor says after the C word. Consequently, you might forget about another C wordcureand fail to understand that a prostate cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. So, can prostate cancer be cured?
If youre undergoing regular screening, chances are that any prostate cancer you have will be identified at an earlier stage, when your likelihood of a cure is greater. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the cure rate for men with low-risk prostate cancer is nearly 91 percent, thanks, in part, to todays modern treatments. And, because prostate cancer often grows slowly, you might not require treatment right away.
Although any cancer diagnosis is scary, dont rush into treatment. Rather, think through your many options, gather all the information you need, and talk to multiple specialists about the available treatments, their risks, and possible outcomes.
Fighting Prostate Cancer With Radiation
The other primary curative treatment for prostate cancer is radiation, administered via external-beam radiation therapy or brachytherapy. Studies suggest that both radiation modalities and surgery are equally effective at eradicating prostate cancer. And, advances in radiation therapies have made them more convenient for patients.
EBRT uses powerful x-rays to attack prostate cancer. Traditional prostate cancer EBRT required patients to visit a treatment facility five days a week for about two months. Today, some centers are using hypofractionated radiation regimens, which reduce the duration of treatment to as little as a week-and-a-half.
Newer methods of EBRT help specialists target the cancerous prostate tissue more precisely with higher radiation doses while minimizing damage to surrounding tissues, such as the rectum. Nevertheless, rectal side effectssuch as diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and painful or difficult bowel movementscan occur. A newer technology, SpaceOAR, which uses an injectable hydrogel to push the rectum away from the prostate, can help reduce these side effects.
Medical advances continue to give more clarity to the question Can prostate cancer be cured? In the meantime, men can take lifestyle steps to reduce their risk. For advice, visit our experts post How to Avoid Prostate Cancer.
And for further information on prostate cancer risks, symptoms, and stages, please visit these posts:
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What Are The Stages Of Prostate Cancer
Your healthcare provider uses the Gleason score and Grade Groups to stage prostate cancer based on its projected aggressiveness. To get this information, the pathologist:
- Assigns a grade to each type of cell in your sample. Cells are graded on a scale of three to five . Samples that test in the one to two range are considered normal tissue.
- Adds together the two most common grades to get your Gleason score .
- Uses the Gleason score to place you into a Grade Group ranging from one to five. A Gleason score of six puts you in Grade Group 1 . A score of nine or higher puts you in Grade Group five . Samples with a higher portion of more aggressive cells receive a higher Grade Group.
How Common Is Prostate Cancer
About one in nine men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during his lifetime. Prostate cancer is second only to skin cancer as the most common cancer affecting males. Close to 200,000 American men receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer every year. There are many successful treatments and some men dont need treatment at all. Still, approximately 33,000 men die from the disease every year.
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