About prostate cancer

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer is cancer that occurs in the prostate. The prostate is a small walnut-shaped gland in males that produces the seminal fluid that nourishes and transports sperm.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and are confined to the prostate gland, where they may not cause serious harm. However, while some types of prostate cancer grow slowly and may need minimal or even no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly.

Prostate cancer that's detected early — when it's still confined to the prostate gland — has the best chance for successful treatment.

What are the symptoms for prostate cancer?

Blood in semen symptom was found in the prostate cancer condition

Prostate cancer may cause no signs or symptoms in its early stages.

Prostate cancer that's more advanced may cause signs and symptoms such as:

  • Trouble urinating
  • Decreased force in the stream of urine
  • Blood in semen
  • Discomfort in the pelvic area
  • Bone pain
  • Erectile dysfunction

When to see a doctor

Make an appointment with your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms that worry you.

Debate continues regarding the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening, and medical organizations differ on their recommendations. Discuss prostate cancer screening with your doctor. Together, you can decide what's best for you.

What are the causes for prostate cancer?

It's not clear what causes prostate cancer.

Doctors know that prostate cancer begins when some cells in your prostate become abnormal. Mutations in the abnormal cells' DNA cause the cells to grow and divide more rapidly than normal cells do. The abnormal cells continue living, when other cells would die. The accumulating abnormal cells form a tumor that can grow to invade nearby tissue. Some abnormal cells can also break off and spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body.

What are the treatments for prostate cancer?

Treatment

Your prostate cancer treatment options depend on several factors, such as how fast your cancer is growing, whether it has spread and your overall health, as well as the potential benefits or side effects of the treatment.

Immediate treatment may not be necessary

Low-grade prostate cancer may not need treatment right away. For some, treatment may never be needed. Instead, doctors sometimes recommend active surveillance.

In active surveillance, regular follow-up blood tests, rectal exams and prostate biopsies may be performed to monitor progression of your cancer. If tests show your cancer is progressing, you may opt for a prostate cancer treatment such as surgery or radiation.

Active surveillance may be an option for cancer that isn't causing symptoms, is expected to grow very slowly and is confined to a small area of the prostate. Active surveillance may also be considered for someone who has another serious health condition or who is of an advanced age that makes cancer treatment more difficult.

Surgery to remove the prostate

Surgery for prostate cancer involves removing the prostate gland (radical prostatectomy), some surrounding tissue and a few lymph nodes.

Surgery is an option for treating cancer that's confined to the prostate. It's sometimes used to treat advanced prostate cancer in combination with other treatments.

To access the prostate, surgeons may use a technique that involves:

  • Making several small incisions in your abdomen. During robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy, surgical instruments are attached to a mechanical device (robot) and inserted through several small incisions in your abdomen. The surgeon sits at a console and uses hand controls to guide the robot to move the instruments. Most prostate cancer operations are done using this technique.
  • Making one long incision in your abdomen. During retropubic surgery, the surgeon makes one long incision in your lower abdomen to access and remove the prostate gland. This approach is much less common, but may be necessary in certain situations.

Discuss with your doctor which type of surgery is best for your specific situation.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy to kill cancer cells. Prostate cancer radiation therapy treatments may involve:

  • Radiation that comes from outside of your body (external beam radiation). During external beam radiation therapy, you lie on a table while a machine moves around your body, directing high-powered energy beams, such as X-rays or protons, to your prostate cancer. You typically undergo external beam radiation treatments five days a week for several weeks. Some medical centers offer a shorter course of radiation therapy that uses higher doses of radiation spread over fewer days.

    External beam radiation is an option for treating cancer that's confined to the prostate. It can also be used after surgery to kill any cancer cells that might remain if there's a risk that the cancer could spread or come back. For prostate cancer that spreads to other areas of the body, such as the bones, radiation therapy can help slow the cancer's growth and relieve symptoms, such as pain.

  • Radiation placed inside your body (brachytherapy). Brachytherapy involves placing radioactive sources in your prostate tissue. Most often, the radiation is contained in rice-sized radioactive seeds that are inserted into your prostate tissue. The seeds deliver a low dose of radiation over a long period of time. Brachytherapy is one option for treating cancer that hasn't spread beyond the prostate.

In some situations, doctors may recommend both types of radiation therapy.

Freezing or heating prostate tissue

Ablative therapies destroy prostate tissue with cold or heat. Options may include:

  • Freezing prostate tissue. Cryoablation or cryotherapy for prostate cancer involves using a very cold gas to freeze the prostate tissue. The tissue is allowed to thaw and the procedure repeats. The cycles of freezing and thawing kill the cancer cells and some surrounding healthy tissue.
  • Heating prostate tissue. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment uses concentrated ultrasound energy to heat the prostate tissue and cause it to die.

These treatments may be considered for treating very small prostate cancers when surgery isn't possible. They may also be used to treat advanced prostate cancers if other treatments, such as radiation therapy, haven't helped.

Researchers are studying whether cryotherapy or HIFU to treat one part of the prostate might be an option for cancer that's confined to the prostate. Referred to as "focal therapy," this strategy identifies the area of the prostate that contains the most aggressive cancer cells and treats that area only. Studies have found that focal therapy reduces the risk of side effects. But it's not clear whether it offers the same survival benefits as treatment to the entire prostate.

Hormone therapy

Hormone therapy is treatment to stop your body from producing the male hormone testosterone. Prostate cancer cells rely on testosterone to help them grow. Cutting off the supply of testosterone may cause cancer cells to die or to grow more slowly.

Hormone therapy options include:

  • Medications that stop your body from producing testosterone. Certain medications — known as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists and antagonists — prevent your body's cells from receiving messages to make testosterone. As a result, your testicles stop producing testosterone.
  • Medications that block testosterone from reaching cancer cells. These medications, known as anti-androgens, usually are given in conjunction with LHRH agonists. That's because LHRH agonists can cause a temporary increase in testosterone before testosterone levels decrease.
  • Surgery to remove the testicles (orchiectomy). Removing your testicles reduces testosterone levels in your body quickly and significantly. But unlike medication options, surgery to remove the testicles is permanent and irreversible.

Hormone therapy is often used to treat advanced prostate cancer to shrink the cancer and slow its growth.

Hormone therapy is sometimes used before radiation therapy to treat cancer that hasn't spread beyond the prostate. It helps shrink the cancer and increases the effectiveness of radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill rapidly growing cells, including cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be administered through a vein in your arm, in pill form or both.

Chemotherapy may be a treatment option for treating prostate cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. Chemotherapy may also be an option for cancers that don't respond to hormone therapy.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy uses your immune system to fight cancer. Your body's disease-fighting immune system may not attack your cancer because the cancer cells produce proteins that help them hide from the immune system cells. Immunotherapy works by interfering with that process.

Prostate cancer immunotherapy can involve:

  • Engineering your cells to fight cancer. Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) treatment takes some of your own immune cells, genetically engineers them in a laboratory to fight prostate cancer and then injects the cells back into your body through a vein. It's an option for treating advanced prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone therapy.
  • Helping your immune system cells identify cancer cells. Immunotherapy drugs that help the immune system cells identify and attack the cancer cells are an option for treating advanced prostate cancers that no longer respond to hormone therapy.

Targeted drug therapy

Targeted drug treatments focus on specific abnormalities present within cancer cells. By blocking these abnormalities, targeted drug treatments can cause cancer cells to die.

Targeted therapy drugs may be recommended to treat advanced or recurrent prostate cancer if hormone therapy isn't working.

Some targeted therapies only work in people whose cancer cells have certain genetic mutations. Your cancer cells may be tested in a laboratory to see if these drugs might help you.

 

What are the risk factors for prostate cancer?

Factors that can increase your risk of prostate cancer include:

  • Age. Your risk of prostate cancer increases as you age.
  • Race. For reasons not yet determined, men carry a greater risk of prostate cancer than do men of other races. In men, prostate cancer is also more likely to be aggressive or advanced.
  • Family history. If men in your family have had prostate cancer, your risk may be increased. Also, if you have a family history of genes that increase the risk of breast cancer (BRCA1 or BRCA2) or a very strong family history of breast cancer, your risk of prostate cancer may be higher.
  • Obesity. Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer may be more likely to have advanced disease that's more difficult to treat.

Is there a cure/medications for prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer is also named prostatic carcinoma. This is a very common cancer that occurs in the prostate. In the male body, the prostate is a small walnut-shaped gland that helps in producing the seminal fluid that transports sperm. This is located next to the bladder. This starts in the prostate gland and spreads to the seminal vesicles. Prostate cancer, as such, has no particular signs but some of the signs can reveal this cancer, such as trouble in urinating, blood in semen, bone pain, pelvic area discomfort, and erectile dysfunction.

This cancer generally occurs in men as age increases. Black men have a higher risk of prostate cancer, due to a family history of genes, due to obesity.
Sometimes, this cancer grows slowly and does not cause any serious harm; for this, active surveillance is recommended. Active surveillance includes blood tests, regular follow-ups, rectal exams, and prostate biopsies.

1. Many types of surgeries are performed to remove the prostate. It involves the removal of the prostate gland.

2. To access the prostate, surgeons make several small incisions in the abdomen. This is robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and most prostate cancer operations are done with the help of this technique.

3. Retropubic surgery is done in which a long incision is made in the abdomen. Radiation therapy is done that kills the cancer cells.

4. Prostate cancer radiation therapy involves external beam radiation, i.e., radiation that comes from outside of the body, and brachytherapy, i.e., radiation placed inside the body.

5. Ablative therapies are done that freeze or heat prostate tissue.

6. Hormone therapy is performed in which medications such as a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone or gonadotropin-releasing hormone anti-androgens are given.

7. Chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted drug therapy are also done.


Video related to prostate cancer