Prostate Cancer Essay Research Paper IntroductionProstate cancer

Prostate Cancer Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancer in men over 50. This cancer is a serious disease, it rates the second leading cause of death in men, which means the symptoms remain hidden until men get older and they are able to recognize them. There are many ways to treat this kind of cancer but doctors can not insure patients that the cancer will fully go away at once. Since prostate cancer is a part of the males reproductive system it can cause problems with urinating and ejaculating. According to Charles Henderson (1998) ” Osteoporosis is associated with hypogonadism, and servere bone loss occurs following orchidectomy for prostate cancer”. There are also many ways in diagnosing prostate cancer, even before symptoms may start to show. There is no positive way to prevent prostate cancer but studies have suggested that having a low-fat diet will decrease your chances or risks of getting it. The following will present a understanding and overview of prostate cancer and the related subjects.

What is Prostate Cancer

The prostate is a gland about the size of a walnut, which produces semen. It is located in the front of the rectum, behind the penis, and under the bladder. The cancer develops from the cells of the prostate gland, and sometimes the cells may spread out to other parts of the body. Most prostate cancer grows slowly which makes it harder to find in younger males. From it being a part of the reproductive track it can result in the penis not functioning right, called impotence.

The cancer may grow to block the bladder which then makes patients unable to urinate. If it grows into the bladder neck and blocks the urters this will cause a kidney failure. The symptoms include , need to urinate frequently (usually at night), difficulty in starting to urinate, inability to urinate, burning when urinating, painful ejaculation, blood in urine or semen, or frequent pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs. Also along with this cancer the person can lose his appetite, weight, desire for sex, and the desire to live.

Causes

There is no positive explanation of what causes prostate cancer, but it is believed that the bodies hormones are changed or increased in some way. Researchers have also found many things that are included with the higher risk of developing this disease. If you are over the age of 50 your chances will increase, if you are an African-American it is found to be twice as common, and it’s mostly common in North America. Other influences some studies have suggested men that eat more fat and less fruit and vegetables will increase their risks. Their physical activity, having a healthy weight may help reduce their risk in developing prostate cancer. Finally prostate cancer seems to run in family’s, it is inherited and will make you at higher risk at having this cancer. All these examples could be causes but again no one no’s for sure the cause of prostate cancer.

How Prostate Cancer is Diagnosed

Many patients after symptoms have occur, get diagnosed at an older age. But it can also be diagnosed without symptoms at a younger age. One is the Digital Rectum exam, here the doctor inserts a finger into the rectum and feels the prostate through the rectal wall to check for lumps. Blood tests, the patients blood is drawn and that measures of the prostates specific protein and acids in the blood. Another way is the urine test which is checked for blood or infections. There is the transrectal ultrasonography, when a probe is put into the rectum and it will send ultrasound waves to a computer, that bounce off the prostate. Those echo’s are looked at by the computer to show the picture of the prostate. The intravenous pylegram is a number of x-rays of the organs of the urinary tract. There is also a cystoscopy in which the doctor looks into the tube that carries urine out of the body and the bladder through a thin lighted tube. Or you may have a biopsy, if the cancer is suspected by one of the tests, and they wil remove a small piece of the tissue from the prostate. The biopsy is the only way to know for sure that the prostate gland have the cancer cell.

If prostate cancer is found after the biopsy it will be graded to how fast it is likely to grow and spread. This is done by taking a sample of the biopsy, and then they grade it accordingly to how close it is to looking like a normal prostate cell. The most common grading system is the Gleason system, ranging from 1-10. In this system 2 to 4 is the lower stages, 5-6 is the intermediate stages, and 7-10 are considered the higher stages. According to Harvard Health Publications Group (2000) a Gleason score is based on a pathologist’s examination of extract prostate tissue. The higher the Gleason score, more advanced the cancer.

Treatments

After patients have been diagnosed they still have to go through more testing to have the prostate cancer staged. After the cancer is staged then doctors can decide what kind of treatment is best appropriate. In staging they use a variety of different procedures. They go though CAT scans, MRI’s which will show abnormal areas if the cancer spread to the bones, radionuclide bone scan, prostascint scan (radioactive material used again to look at bones), lymph nude biopsy, and TNM staging system which will then tell how serious the ca