What Is Prostate Cancer?
The cancer starting from the prostate of a man is called prostate cancer. Prostate is a walnut-shaped small gland present in men's body; this gland produces seminal fluid, an agent responsible for nourishing and transporting sperm. Statistics show that prostate cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancer types in men. This cancer usually grows slowly; during the initial stages of prostate cancer, the cancer tends to stay confined within prostate gland. This slow growing type of prostate cancer requires minimal treatment. However, in rare cases prostate cancer can be aggressive in nature. If treated properly, the life expectancy of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early stage of the disease i.e. when the cancer is still confined within their prostate is much higher compared to patients with cancer spreading outside the prostate.
During the early stages, prostate cancer is unlikely to cause any symptom. As the disease advances, the patient can experience the following signs and symptoms:
- Blood in semen
- Blood in urine
- Decrease in the force of urine
- Trouble in urinating
- Swelling of legs
- Bone pain
- Discomfort in pelvic region
Patients with prostate cancer can also experience the following complications:
- During the advanced stages of the disease, prostate cancer can invade the surrounding organs of the prostate and may also travel through the patient's lymphatic system or bloodstream to affect distant organs and bones of the patient. Treating prostate cancer metastasizing to other body parts of the patient is extremely difficult.
- Prostate cancer as well as the treatment offered for the disease can result in urinary incontinence. To control the incontinence, the patient may need to undergo a surgery or use a catheter besides taking medications.
- Men with prostate cancer often suffer from erectile dysfunction. This condition can be caused by the disease itself or by its treatments like hormone therapy, radiation or surgery.
As mentioned earlier prostate cancer cases detected at an early stage has better prognosis than those detected when the disease is in an advanced stage. So, people at risk of developing this cancer type, for instance black people, men over the age of 65 years, obese individuals and people with family history of prostate cancer must go for prostate screening tests once every year. The screening tests may include the following: DRE or digital rectal exams and PSA test or prostate-specific antigen test.
Prostate Cancer Metastasized to the Bone Treated Ably with Promising New Drug
A new-fangled medicine for treating prostate cancer has shown immense potential, especially against those types of tumor which have metastasized or reached the bone, as per a multiple-site trial finding.
The medicine Cabozantinib is devised for targeting chiefly duo vital paths associated to the development & metastasis of prostate cancer. The medicine was observed to have max efficacy on those kinds of tumors which have managed to reach the bone.
According to Doctor M. Hussain who helmed the trial, not just 3/4th of bone scan results reveal part or total resolution, however it would be an adjunct to allayed bone pains & lowered requirement for narcotics usage. The lead researcher did a presentation of these enthralling results during the ASCO yearly meet.
The study did an [...]
PSA Levels Important New Discovery That You Must Be Aware Of
A male’s surging PSA levels or prostate specific antigen levels over many years – that has been viewed as a likely caveat indication of prostate cancer – has lately received a lot of flack as a screening test since at times it is prompting biopsy procedures that then are turning out to be regular.
A novel trial though reveals that almost seventy percent of males that had increasing PSA levels & subsequently, regular biopsy procedures were sooner or later identified with having prostate cancer, as per the study done at the North Western Univ.
FSoM. The PSA levels trend over a span of many years is known as PSA velocity.
According to Doctor W. Catalona, director at RHLCCC NorthWestern Univ. who also helmed this latest trial, the study results reveal that high & escalating [...]
Pro-PSA Test Fine-Tunes Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
During a large-scaled multi-centered scientific study, a novel PSA test for prostate cancer screening has greater accuracy in identifying males having prostate cancer – especially the aggressive type & considerably lowered false-positive outcomes in comparison to the duo presently obtainable commercial PSA tests, as per a lately printed N. Western Medicine trial.
At present, the solely obtainable FDA-accepted prostate cancer screening tests lead to increased occurrences of false-positive outcomes & needless biopsy procedures as well as likely over-identification & over-therapy of indolent-natured prostate cancer that would’ve never lead to sufferings or mortalities.
Prostate-specific antigen or PSA is a substance whose high amounts could suggest presence of prostate cancer, [...]
Prostate Cancer’s Foremost Reliable Test – Twice Better than PSA Testing
The foremost dependable test for screening prostate cancer would soon become obtainable to males in Britain in just a matter of some months time.
Screening of all elderly males for prostate cancer would shortly be done similar to how females get screened for breast cancer.
A D.I.Y. type of the testing kit is additionally being developed that would be similar to at-home pregnancy testing kits & offer outcomes from merely some droplets of urine in just some minutes time. It is anticipated to be costing below a hundred pounds.
Prof. R. Winston is one the hailing this enthralling detection which is the result of 3 years of researching at the Univ. of Surrey.
Prostate Cancer is the commonest cancer form among males in Britain, afflicting 37000 yearly & accountable for over ten [...]
New Prostate Cancer Treatment – Salvager of Sex Lives
Once diagnosis of prostate cancer has been confirmed, physicians time and again decide on following active surveillance plan for new prostate cancer treatment. It basically involves close observation of the disease instead of going in for treatment since among several males prostate cancer growth occurs at such a gradual pace that they do not ail from the outcomes during their lifetimes.
In case the cancer has greater aggressiveness or when patients are keen on undergoing prostate cancer therapy as soon as possible, they might be offered surgery. But, there is a forty percent possibility of suffering from ED or erectile dysfunction when surgery is opted, even though nerve sparing operative procedure presently translates to this risk being lowered in several scenarios.
Doctors are offering [...]
Promising New-fangled Drug for Late-Stage Prostate Cancer
Novel medication known as cabazitaxel or Jevtana has garnered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nod to treat males having late staging prostate cancer that have developed resistance to hormone therapy and failed to respond to therapy with docetaxel or Taxotere (a chemotherapy drug).
Prior to Jevtana getting the FDA consent, docetaxel had been the sole drug which was the accepted choice for males having progressive, hormone-refractory prostate cancer (prostate cancer that no more shows response to hormone therapy).
Due to the drug’s potential in helping males having later-staging prostate cancer, the Sanofi-Aventis make medication was quick-tracked for acceptance by the FDA.
According to Doctor R. Pazdur, Director of OODP (accountable for manufacture of safe, effectual medications [...]
Anti Prostate Cancer Food Dossier
Undeniably diet has a notable influence on cancer risk and possessing the knowledge for what food types are useful and which are detrimental could assist people in shaping a diet for achieving max health benefits. Taking into consideration the pervasiveness of prostate cancer among males, here is a listing of some prostate cancer staving foods.
Tomato
Antioxidant lycopene proffering the red pigment to tomatoes is a cancer-combatant agent which has since long been on the research radar. During a 2004 reassessment of the existent researches done on tomato uncovered a small lowering in the risk for getting prostate cancer among males having elevated lycopene presence or having dietetic intake rich in tomato. Although a trial conducted three years later refuted these outcomes, providentially [...]
Tasquinimod – Enthralling Advancement in Prostate Cancer Treatment
Specialists from the Johns Hopkins, Duke Univ. and Roswell Park Cancer Inst. have made major progress in prostate cancer treatment after a scientific study conducted on two hundred patients found that the blood vessel obstructing medication known as tasquinimod slackened the rate at which the condition progressed.
Tasquinimod is additionally dubbed as the angiogenesis-resistant medication which wrings out blood circulation to the prostate tumors by hampering growth of novel blood vessels. All tumors require extensive nets of blood vessels for supplying nutrient forms.
The multi-center studies conducted at 7 institutes inclusive of John Hopkins, registered people with prostate cancer among whom the condition had metastasized. They were given a single, day-to-day tablet tasquinimod to be [...]
New MDV3100 Targeted Treatment for Prostate Cancer in Advanced Stages
New-fangled study findings of a Phase I-II of trial drug MDV3100 has shown potential in being a safe and effectual treatment for prostate cancer in patients having an aggressive type of the disease, castration-resistant prostate cancer or CRPC - a hormone refractory condition.
Study outcomes demonstrate that MDV3100 could not merely shrivel tumors, but additionally lowered serum levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen), a tumor marker. It also assisted in stabilizing the cancer which had metastasized to bone, soft tissues and diminished the tumor cell count that circulated in the blood.
Howard Scher, MD, head of Genitourinary Oncology Service who helmed the study stated that they were buoyant on seeing anti-tumor activity among males in whom prostate cancer had metastasized to other [...]
Prostate Cancer Warning Signs
Prostate Cancer is the widespread cancer form in men that occurs due to the uncontrollable alteration and growth of the healthy cells present in the prostate leading to a mass formation known as tumor.
Adenocarcinomas – the cancer developing in the glandular tissue constitute above ninety-five percent of all the prostate cancers. An atypical form of prostate cancer called the neuroendocrine or small cell anaplastic cancer has a tendency of spreading early, however generally does not create the PSA or prostate-specific antigen.
Facts on Prostate Cancer
An estimate of above twenty-seven thousand fatalities in men due to prostate cancer has occurred in 2009, however the fatality rate continues to be above two folds as elevated among black males in comparison to the white males.
Mostly, [...]
Prostate Cancer – What Raises The Risk?
Prostate Cancer is a cancerous tumor originating in the prostate glands and the second prevalent reason for cancer fatalities among males. As the precise reasons leading to prostate cancer are yet unclear, the specific ways of averting prostate cancer is still fuzzy. The below mentioned factors could increase a man’s chances of getting prostate cancers:
Age
Aging is observed to be directly proportional to the risk of developing prostate cancer, with risk swiftly soaring subsequent to fifty years of age. Above eighty percent of the prostate cancer cases are diagnosed among sixty-five years and above aged males.
Ethnicity
Afro-American males are at increased likelihood of developing prostate cancers in comparison to fair-skinned males. Such males are additionally more prone to developing [...]
Prostate Cancer – Deciphering Its Staging
Prostate Cancer is the prevalent form of cancer affecting males which originates due to the unrestrained growth of the cells present in the prostate gland.
Stages of Prostate Cancer
The general staging involves the three categories, namely:
T – The size of the primary tumor.
N- If the cancer has metastasized to the adjacent lymph nodes.
M- The appearance or non-appearance of remote metastasis.
All these three are taken into consideration alongside the Gleason score.
There are four groups for illustrating the local size of the prostate tumor that ranges between T1 to T4 with majority of them also having sub-groupings.
T1
The tumor could not be felt during the DRE exam or viewed during transrectal ultrasound imaging.
T1a
The cancer has been accidentally detected at [...]
Latest Advances For Combating Prostate Cancer In Preliminary Stages
Annually nearly thirty-five thousand men are detected with prostate cancer in the United Kingdom and more than ten thousand face fatalities due to the disease. The disease is known to affect the small gland that fits around the urethra and is responsible for the production of seminal fluid.
Being treated early plays a decisive role. Nearly 98% of men that are detected with the cancer that has not metastasized beyond the gland could have a life expectancy rate of 5 years and more. This survival rate plummets to 30% when the cancer has metastasized.
The diagnostic and treatment options for prostate cancer in its initial stages are stated below.
Active Surveillance
Active Surveillance generally translates to getting a PSA test done. The PSA test is conducted for checking any rise [...]
