So Why Would You Go See The Doctor
An important clinical goal for you and your doctor should be to detect risk for prostate cancer long before it can cause symptoms.
Thus, any initial detection of signs that you may have prostate cancer is now most commonly the result of a regular check-up carried out by your primary care physician, which may include a digital rectal examination or a prostate specific antigen test.
The most common symptom which may make a man go to either his primary care physician or a urologist, and which might subsequently lead to a diagnosis of prostate cancer, is some form of problem with normal urination.
Since all the symptoms listed above may be caused by prostate cancer and/or by a number of other disorders , it would be wise to talk to your family doctor if you or someone else in your family is having one or more of these problems on a regular basis.
What Medications Are Used To In The Treatment Of Bph
Several types of medications have been approved for treatment of urinary symptoms secondary to prostate enlargement. Men with severe symptoms may require treatment with a combination of these medications. Your doctor will determine the optimal combination for your condition:
Alpha-blockers, such as terazosin , prazosin , or doxazosin , relax the muscles in the prostate and thus may relieve symptoms. Newer alpha-blockers, such as tamsulosin , alfuzosin , and silodosin, are more commonly prescribed because they may have fewer side effects.
Finasteride or dutasteride can cause the prostate to shrink. As a result, the urinary symptoms may improve. These drugs are most helpful in men who have at least moderate enlargement of the prostate.
Tadalafil has recently been approved for the treatment of BPH.
Bladder calming medications that help with the symptoms related to bladder irritability from prostate blockage: oxybutynin , solifenacin , darifenacin , trospium , and mirabegron .
Once your doctor has given you a medical plan, you should stick to it and follow up as recommended. Sometimes men need follow-up with a urologist.
What Is The Survival Rate For Prostate Cancer
Most of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer will not die from it. Other medical conditions along with prostate cancer can cause death.
Survival rates for men with prostate cancer have increased over the years due to increased screening and treatment options.
- Ninety-nine percent of men with prostate cancer will survive for a minimum of five years after diagnosis.
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What Is Prostate Cancer
Cancer can start any place in the body. Prostate cancer starts in the prostate gland. It starts when cells in the prostate grow out of control.
Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body. Cancer cells in the prostate can sometimes travel to the bones or other organs and grow there. When cancer cells do this, its called metastasis. To doctors, the cancer cells in the new place look just like the ones from the prostate.
Cancer is always named for the place where it starts. So when prostate cancer spreads to the bones , its still called prostate cancer. Its not called bone cancer unless it starts from cells in the bone.
Ask your doctor to use this picture to show you where your cancer is.
The prostate
The prostate is a gland found only in men, so only men can get prostate cancer.
The prostate is just below the bladder and in front of the rectum . The tube that carries pee goes through the prostate. The prostate makes some of the fluid that helps keep the sperm alive and healthy.
There are a few types of prostate cancer. Some are very rare. Most prostate cancers are a type called adenocarcinoma. This cancer starts from gland cells. Your doctor can tell you more about the type you have.
So What Are The Warning Signs Of Prostate Cancer
Unfortunately, there usually arent any early warning signs for prostate cancer. The growing tumor does not push against anything to cause pain, so for many years the disease may be silent. Thats why screening for prostate cancer is such an important topic for all men and their families.
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In rare cases, prostate cancer can cause symptoms. Contact your doctor for an evaluation if you experience any of the following:
- A need to urinate frequently, especially at night, some- times urgently
- Difficulty starting or holding back urination
- Weak, dribbling, or interrupted flow of urine
- Painful or burning urination
- Difficulty in having an erection
- A decrease in the amount of fluid ejaculated
- Painful ejaculation
- Blood in the urine or semen
- Pressure or pain in the rectum
- Pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips, pelvis, or thighs
Remember: urinary symptoms dont necessarily mean you have cancer. Prostatitis or BPH are benign diseases but can cause similar symptoms and are very common.
What about difficulty in having an erection? Again, this is most likely not caused by cancer but by other factors such as diabetes, smoking, cardiovascular disease, or just plain getting older.
That said: Symptoms are symptoms, and no matter whats most likely to be causing them, you should get them checked out by a doctor.
Download or order your free copy of the Prostate Cancer Patient Guide now with COVID-19 Appendix.
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What Is A Psa Number And Why Is It So Important
Dr. Samadi: First of all, you should know that the Prostate Specific Antigen is not a specific protein for prostate cancer. It just shows you that theres something going on in the prostate. You go to the doctor, you get a blood test and you get the PSA number. Youve got to follow it like a stock market chart. When you have a PSA over 4, only 30% of the time its prostate cancer. What else could it be? For example, an infection can cause the growth of the gland and a lot of times your urologist will prescribe antibiotic first to see if that can bring the score down before beginning to worry. Next, your doctor should try to figure out if the gland could be growing: this can be followed with a trend velocity or PSA velocity: if the numbers suddenly start to zoom up, then there may be cause for worry. Everything should be done in conjunction with a digital rectal exam, where were feeling for a nodule and follow up with a PSA.
Getting A Diagnosis Of Bladder Cancer Can Be A Difficult Time
If breast cancer is diagnosed at an early enough stage, its treatable. Your doctor will want to discuss treatment options as well as the prognosis for bladder cancer. Getting a diagnosis of bladder cancer can be a difficult time. Find the information you need today. Although the percentage of cases in men is much lower than in women, male breast cancer accounts for a por. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in men. The pancreas is an organ that releases enzymes involved with digestion, and hormones to regular blood sugar levels. One in seven men in the united states will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during his lifetime. The pancreas is located behind the stomach, so having pancreatic cancer doesnt involve a palpable mass that you can feel. Prostate cancer is a common type of cancer in men, according to the mayo clinic. But hearing the words can still be scary. There are a number of different treatments doctors recommend. Although it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in american women, breast cancer can impact people of all genders.
Getting a diagnosis of bladder cancer can be a difficult time. Being armed with information is vital to begin the fight. The earlier the detection of prostate cancer, the better the patients chance of survival is. Treatment for bladder cancer depends on your overall health, progression of the c. But hearing the words can still be scary.
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Surgical Treatment For Enlarged Prostate
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Transurethral resection of the prostate . In this surgery, the inner portion of the prostate is removed. Used 90% of the time, this is the most commonly used surgical procedure for BPH.
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Open prostatectomy .The surgeon makes an incision and removes the enlarged tissue from the prostate.
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Laser surgery Laser surgery uses laser energy to destroy prostate tissue and shrink the prostate.
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Transurethral incision of the prostate .This surgery does not involve removing prostate tissue. A few small cuts are made in the prostate gland to reduce the prostates pressure on the urethra, making urination easier.
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Can A Swollen Prostate If Untreated Cause Prostate Cancer
We have no evidence of that. Theyre completely unrelated problems. The area of the prostate that causes urinary symptoms is usually a different part of the prostate than where cancer is likeliest to develop.
Doctors divide the prostate into different zones. The zone that is associated with BPHand the majority of prostate growthis the transition zone. Prostate cancer occurs there much less often than in the peripheral zone, which is the outer area.
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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.
Where Does Prostate Cancer Spread
The most common place for prostate cancer to spread to is the bones. It can also spread to the lymph nodes, liver and lungs and other organs.
A large tumour in the prostate gland can spread into or press on areas around the prostate, such as the back passage or urethra. The urethra is the tube which carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body.
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Treatments To Control Advanced Prostate Cancer
If youve just been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, you may be offered the following treatments:
- chemotherapy with hormone therapy
- clinical trials.
Chemotherapy with hormone therapy
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to kill cancer cells, wherever they are in the body. It wont get rid of your prostate cancer, but it aims to shrink it and slow down its growth. You might be offered chemotherapy at the same time as, or soon after, you start having hormone therapy. This helps many men to live longer, and may help delay symptoms such as pain.
You need to be quite fit to have chemotherapy. This is because it can cause side effects that are harder to deal with if you have other health problems. Read more about chemotherapy.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy will be a life-long treatment for most men with advanced prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer usually needs the hormone testosterone to grow. Hormone therapy works by either stopping your body from making testosterone, or stopping testosterone from reaching the cancer cells. This usually causes the cancer to shrink, wherever it is in the body. Hormone therapy can also help control symptoms of advanced prostate cancer, such as bone pain.
Hormone therapy can cause side effects speak to your doctor or nurse about ways to manage these. Read more about hormone therapy, and its side effects.
Clinical trials
What Other Factors Contribute To Fatigue
Several other factors could contribute to fatigue, including:
- Tumor cells compete for nutrients, often at the expense of the normal cells’ growth.
- Decreased nutrition from the side effects of treatments can also cause fatigue.
- Cancer treatments, specifically chemotherapy, can cause reduced blood counts, which may lead to anemia, a blood disorder that occurs when the blood cannot adequately transport oxygen through the body. When tissues don’t get enough oxygen, fatigue can result.
- Medicines used to treat side effects such as nausea, pain, depression, anxiety, and seizures can also cause fatigue.
- Research shows that chronic, severe pain increases fatigue.
- Stress can worsen feelings of fatigue. Stress can result from dealing with the disease and the “unknowns,” as well as from worrying about daily tasks or trying to meet others’ needs.
- Fatigue may result when you try to maintain your normal daily routines and activities during treatments. Modifying your schedule and activities can help conserve energy.
- Depression and fatigue often go hand-in-hand. It may not be clear which started first. One way to sort this out is to try to understand your depressed feelings and how they affect your life. If you are depressed all the time, were depressed before your cancer diagnosis, or are preoccupied with feeling worthless and useless, you may need treatment for depression.
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Living With Prostate Cancer
Living with prostate cancer depends on how early you were diagnosed. Also, it depends on the type of treatment you received. For example, if you had to have your prostate removed, you may have to live with sexual dysfunction. If you had hormone or chemotherapy, you may have long-terms effects from the medicines used on those treatments. Ask your doctor how you can improve the quality of your life after treatment.
What Is Active Surveillance
Active surveillance is used to monitor localized, early prostate cancer, instead of treating it straight away with surgery or radiotherapy.It involves having regular tests to keep an eye on cancer through tests like MRIs, biopsies, or PSA tests.
Treatment is only opted for if the cancer prognosis changes or cancer spreads. This helps to avoid or at least delay the side effects associated with treatments.
Although some men worry about not having the treatment and their cancer spreading, many men can easily get on with their daily lives between check-ups without any noticeable changes to their day to day routine.
This is because low grade or early prostate cancer is largely asymptomatic.
Many of the men who opt for active surveillance will not need treatment during their lifetime.
Research shows that men who undergo active surveillance have the same chance of living for 10 years or longer as men who undergo radiotherapy or surgery, but with fewer and less intense side effects.
A different study found that all treatments had worse effects on a patients quality of life than active surveillance.
40% of men who had opted for Androgen deprivation therapy experienced some form of urinary leakage, as did 33.9% of radiotherapy patients and 62% of radical prostatectomy.
However, only 12% of men who opted for active surveillance reported any urinary leakage, and this could largely be attributed to untreated BPH.
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When Should I Call My Doctor
Although cancer-related fatigue is a common, and often an expected side effect of cancer and its treatments, you should feel free to mention your concerns to your health care providers. Fatigue may be a clue to an underlying medical problem. Other times, there may be treatments to help control some of the causes of fatigue.
Finally, there may be suggestions that are more specific to your situation that would help in combating your fatigue. Be sure to let your doctor or nurse know if you have:
- Increased shortness of breath with minimal exertion
- Uncontrolled pain
Diagnostic Accuracy Of Dre
There were 3225 participants included from 4 different studies. For each of the included studies we were able to calculate a 2×2 table for reference test results versus the diagnostic test . This data was then combined to give an overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV. This was calculated using Meta-Disc software. Overall, the pooled sensitivity and specificity for DRE as a predictor of prostate cancer in symptomatic patients was found to be 28.6% and 90.7% , respectively. These results are shown in Fig. . The pooled PPV and NPV were found to be 42.3 and 84.2%, respectively. There was no relevant data extractable regarding secondary outcomes of adverse events or cost effectiveness.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Prostate Cancer
Early-stage prostate cancer rarely causes symptoms. These problems may occur as the disease progresses:
- Frequent, sometimes urgent, need to urinate, especially at night.
- Weak urine flow or flow that starts and stops.
- Painful urination .
- Painful ejaculation and erectile dysfunction .
- Blood in semen or urine.
- Lower back pain, hip pain and chest pain.
- Leg or feet numbness.
Your Gp Practice Nurse And District Nurse
Your GP, practice nurse, and district or community nurse will work with other health professionals to co-ordinate your care and offer you support and advice. They can also refer you to local services. They can visit you in your home and also help support your family. They might also care for you if you go into a nursing home or hospice.
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Problems Emptying Your Bladder
If the cancer is pressing on your urethra or the opening of your bladder, you may find it difficult to empty your bladder fully. This can sometimes cause urine retention, where urine is left in your bladder when you urinate. There are several things that can help, including the following.
- Drugs called alpha-blockers. These relax the muscles around the opening of the bladder, making it easier to urinate.
- A catheter to drain urine from the bladder. This is a thin, flexible tube that is passed up your penis into your bladder, or through a small cut in your abdomen .
- An operation called a transurethral resection of the prostate to remove the parts of the prostate that are pressing on the urethra.