Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. In some western countries, it has become the leading cause of cancer deaths. As our population ages, the impact of prostate cancer on American men will increase, no other cancer is increasing in incidence and mortality rates with age as fast as prostate cancer.

It has been estimated that more than million American men now live and over the age of 50 will eventually die of prostate cancer unless new treatments are developed to control this disease. Unfortunately, prostate cancer has a disproportionate impact on certain segments of our population. for example, African American men are more likely to develop prostate cancer and twice as likely to die from it than other Americans. 

Over the last decade, the incidence of prostate cancer has increased sharply as PSA testing has become widely available. With widespread awareness about prostate cancer and a greater willingness to discuss this common disease, more than 50 percent of men over age 50 reported that they had been tested for prostate cancer in the last two years.

Most of the increased incidence, therefore, has been associated with the identification through extensive examination of a large number of common, but previously undetected, cases in the population. Gradual decline in the mortality rate seen in the last five years may be related, in part, to the extraordinary sensitivity of  PSA to detect prostate cancer earlier, when it can be controlled with surgery or radiation therapy. 

Prostate cancer is common and mainly affects men older than 65. Approximately 90 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer will have clinically localized disease (Cancer confined to the prostate gland). Treatment approaches vary according to geographic area and by physician specialty. The reason for this variation are not clear and are not strongly associated with tumor grade (Gleason score) or PSA levels. 

Cancer begins in cells, the building blocks that make-up tissues. Network forming organs. 

Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place. 

Sometimes, this orderly process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor. 

Tumors can be benign or malignant: 

Benign tumors are not cancer: 

Benign tumors are rarely life-threatening. Generally, benign tumors can be removed. They usually do not grow back. Cells from benign tumors do not invade tissues around them. Cells from benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body.

Malignant tumors are cancer: 

Malignant tumors are generally more serious than benign tumors. They may be life threatening. Malignant tumors can often be removed. But sometimes they grow back. Cells from malignant tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Cells from malignant tumors can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. Cancer cells spread by breaking away from the tumor (primary) native and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. Cells invade other organs and form new tumors that damage these organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis. 

When prostate cancer spreads, the cancer is often found in nearby lymph nodes. If the cancer has reached these nodes, may also have spread to other lymph nodes, bones, or other organs.

When cancer spreads from its original place to another part of the body, the new tumor has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary tumor. For example, if prostate cancer spreads to the bones, the cancer cells in the bone actually prostate cancer cells. The disease is metastatic prostate cancer, not bone cancer. For that reason, it is treated as prostate cancer, not bone cancer. Doctors call the new tumor distant or metastatic disease.