So even though health professionals might tell you getting prostate cancer is not all that bad, just like skin cancer, people still die from it. 32,050 is not a small number. The best way to prevent prostate cancer is screening. So if you’re 50 and older, and have family history of prostate problems, check with your doctor and schedule a screening every year.

Although the disease is extremely rare in men under age 40, the risk increases greatly with age. More than 60 percent of cases are diagnosed in men over age 65. The average age at the time of diagnosis is 65. Most men experience some form of prostate problems after 50, however, not all prostate problems develop into prostate cancer. Family history is another big factor. If a man’s brother and father had the disease, he’ll be more likely to develop it also.

Source: National Institute on Aging

If you are over 65, have your prostate checked regularly since age is the one single factor in prostate health. Most men probably will notice some prostate issues after the age 50. So talk to your doctor.

Source: the National Cancer Institute

There were 186,000 cases were found in America in 2008, most of those men will live a long time with prostate cancer. Many cancer patient have died from other causes, other than prostate cancer.  However, prostate cancer patients can still die from it.  I

If you are worried about the disease and you’re over 50, check with your doctor. Especially if you have family members who has had prostate issues.

Source: the National Cancer Institute

Your chance of getting prostate cancer may be affected by your age. If you are 50 or older you have a higher risk. If you were an African American, you are at a higher risk. If the men in your family had it, you’re at even higher risk. Even a diet high in fat foods and low in fruits and vegetables are increase your chance of having prostate cancer.

So the sooner you talk to a doctor the better if you are 50 or older or if you notice some symptoms.

Source: National Institute on Aging

Doctors use various blood and imaging tests to learn the stage of the disease. Imaging tests, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, produce pictures of images inside the body.

There are four stages used to describe prostate cancer. Doctors may refer to the stages using the Roman numerals I-IV or the capital letters A-D. The higher the stage, the more advanced the cancer. Following are the main features of each stage.

Stage I or Stage A — The cancer is too small to be felt during a rectal exam and causes no symptoms. The doctor may find it by accident when performing surgery for another reason, usually an enlarged prostate. There is no evidence that the cancer has spread outside the prostate. A sub-stage, T1c, is a tumor identified by needle biopsy because of elevated PSA.

Stage II or Stage B — The tumor is still confined to the prostate but involves more tissue within the prostate. The cancer is large enough to be felt during a rectal exam, or it may be found through a biopsy that is done because of a high PSA level. There is no evidence that the cancer has spread outside the prostate.

Stage III or Stage C — The cancer has spread outside the prostate to nearby tissues. A man may be experiencing symptoms, such as problems with urination.

Stage IV or Stage D — The cancer has spread to lymph nodes or to other parts of the body. The bones are a common site of spread of prostate cancer. There may be problems with urination, fatigue, and weight loss.

Source: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/prostatecancer/stagingprostatecancer/08.html

Before starting treatment, you may want another doctor to review the diagnosis and treatment plan. Some insurance companies require a second opinion. Others may pay for a second opinion if you request it.

Some prostate cancer patients take part in studies of new treatments. These studies — called clinical trials — are designed to find out whether a new treatment is safe and effective.

Often, clinical trials compare a new treatment with a standard one so that doctors can learn which is more effective. Men with prostate cancer who are interested in taking part in a clinical trial should talk with their doctor.

Source: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/prostatecancer/planningtreatment/02.html

The doctor will ask questions about your medical history and perform a digital rectal exam to try to find the cause of the prostate problems. In this exam, the doctor feels the prostate through the rectal wall. Hard or lumpy areas may mean cancer is present.

The doctor may also suggest a blood test to check your prostate specific antigen, or PSA, level. PSA levels can be high not only in men who have prostate cancer, but also in men with an enlarged prostate gland and men with infections of the prostate. PSA tests may be very useful for early cancer diagnosis. However, PSA tests alone do not always tell whether or not cancer is present.

Neither of these screening tests for prostate cancer is perfect. Screening tests check for disease in a person who shows no symptoms. Most men with mildly elevated PSA do not have prostate cancer, and many men with prostate cancer have normal levels of PSA. A recent study revealed that men with low prostate specific antigen levels, or PSA, may still have prostate cancer. Also, the digital rectal exam can miss many prostate cancers.

The doctor may order other exams, including ultrasound and x-rays, to learn more about the cause of the symptoms. But to confirm the presence of cancer, doctors must perform a biopsy. During a biopsy, the doctor uses needles to remove small tissue samples from the prostate and then looks at the samples under a microscope.

If a biopsy shows that cancer is present, the doctor will report on the grade of the tumor. Doctors describe a tumor as low, medium, or high-grade cancer, based on the way it appears under the microscope.

One way of grading prostate cancer, called the Gleason system, uses scores of 2 to 10. Another system uses G1 through G4. The higher the score, the higher the grade of the tumor. High-grade tumors grow more quickly and are more likely to spread than low-grade tumors.

Source: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/prostatecancer/symptomsanddiagnosis/

Age is the most important risk factor for prostate cancer. The disease is extremely rare in men under age 40, but the risk increases greatly with age. More than 60 percent of cases are diagnosed in men over age 65. The average age at the time of diagnosis is 65.

Race is another major risk factor. In the United States, this disease is much more common in African American men than in any other group of men. It is least common in Asian and American Indian men.

A man’s risk for developing prostate cancer is higher if his father or brother has had the disease.

Diet also may play a role. There is some evidence that a diet high in animal fat may increase the risk of prostate cancer and a diet high in fruits and vegetables may decrease the risk. Studies to find out whether men can reduce their risk of prostate cancer by taking certain dietary supplements are ongoing.

Scientists have wondered whether an enlarged prostate, a condition also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH, might increase the risk for prostate cancer. They have also studied obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, radiation exposure, and a sexually transmitted virus to see if they might increase risk. But at this time, there is little evidence that any of these factors contribute to an increased risk.

Source: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/prostatecancer/causesandriskfactors/

These extra cells form a mass of tissue, called a growth or tumor. Tumors can be benign, which means not cancerous, or malignant, which means cancerous. Prostate cancer occurs when a malignant tumor forms in the tissue of the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. In its early stage, prostate cancer needs the male hormone testosterone to grow and survive.

The prostate is about the size of a large walnut. It is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum. The prostate’s main function is to make fluid for semen, a white substance that carries sperm.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among American men. It is a slow-growing disease that mostly affects older men. In fact, more than 60 percent of all prostate cancers are found in men over the age of 65. The disease rarely occurs in men younger than 40 years of age.

Source: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/prostatecancer/