Early prostate cancer often does not cause symptoms. As the cancer grows, you may have trouble urinating. You may need to urinate often, especially at night. Some men have pain or burning during urination, blood in the urine or semen, pain in the back, hips, or pelvis, and painful ejaculation.
To find out if these symptoms are caused by prostate cancer, your doctor will ask about your past medical problems. He or she will perform a physical exam. In the exam, your doctor will put a gloved finger into your rectum to feel your prostate for hard or lumpy areas.
Your doctor may also do a blood test to check the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. PSA levels may be high in men who have an enlarged prostate gland or prostate cancer. You may also need an ultrasound exam that takes computer pictures of the prostate.
If tests show that you might have cancer, your doctor will likely want to confirm this with a biopsy. He or she will take out tiny pieces of the prostate to look for cancer cells. Your doctor may want to do a biopsy again to check results.
Source: National Institute on Aging
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services