Prostate
Prostate cancer involves the growth of abnormal cells that will form a malignant tumor within the prostate gland. The prostate gland is a gland present only in the men , right next to the rectum and helps form the seminal fluid.
Prostate
The abnormal cancer cells are different from the normal cells in that the normal cells follow a cycle of growth, division followed by cell death while the abnormal cells grow and divide but do not die. In this way, they form a hard ball of cells in the prostate which is the tumor.
The National Cancer Institute(NCI) booklet ( NIH publication NO. 05-1576) says that out of every 3 men who are diagnosed with cancer each year, one is diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to the 1 in 14 men who are diagnosed with colon cancer.
There are many types of cells present in the prostate gland but mostly prostate cancer arises from the gland cells.The fluid released by the prostate which adds a major contribution to the semen is formed from the gland cells. The term for this type if prostate cancer arising from the gland cells is adenocarcinoma. Prostate cancer can also be in other forms like sarcomas, small cell carcinomas and transitional cell carcinomas. Most of the prostate cancer cells develop at slow rate. In 90% of the prostate cancer cases, the tumor cells growth is limited to prostate(local) or spread to adjacent areas( regional). Prostate cancer strikes 1 in 6 American men according to studies done by researchers.
The main cause of prostate cancer like other cancers, is still not known.According to various findings by researchers the cause can be
- A high fat diet can increase the risk of prostate cancer. Abdominal obesity, defined as waist greater than 40 inches, was 80% more common among African-American men, according to a report in the Journal of Cancer.
- The investigators report, African-American men with high blood pressure or taking blood pressure medicines were 2-4 times more likely to have prostate cancer as those were not.
Approximately,218,890 men will die from prostate cancer in America this year.
The main symptoms of prostate cancer are
- pain in the lower back(rectal area)
- the flow of the urine is weak
- dribbling of urine
- difficulty in making stream of urine
- blood in urine
- pain while ejaculating
The treatment of prostate cancer is done according to the stage it has reached, which includes;surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and control in the level of hormones.