Prostate Cancer Treatment

If you experience certain symptoms like frequent night urination, blood in your urine or semen, pains in your lower back, in your pelvis or in your upper thighs all this could be symptoms of prostatitis, a non cancerous swelling of the prostate gland or it could be prostate cancer.

Now there’s no need to panic but the fact is that many who choose to ignore signs and symptoms condemn themselves to living with the uncertainty. This has to be worse than actually being diagnosed and knowing if you have prostate cancer or not.

For those who want to continue living, you need to undergo a prostate cancer diagnosis to determine if indeed you have prostate cancer and what can be done to cure it and save your life. There are several stages to prostate cancer and the farther along you let it go without treatment, the more at risk you are of dying due to cancer.

When you discover the symptoms you shouldn’t just throw in the towel but try to see what you need to do about it. First, check with your doctor to conduct screening tests of prostate cancer for you. If you’ve followed previous advice, you no doubt have a baseline PSA test and previous physical tests to begin your diagnosis.

Yet another digital rectal examination (DRE) to check for size and texture of your prostate through the rectal lining but you should know the drill by now. Now’s also not time to get sensitive concerning the test. With this examination your doctor can tell if cancer is present in your prostate by checking to see if he can feel a nodule or other types of prostate irregularity.

Next, the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test will be done and compared with previous results. This test is used to measure the levels of a protein in the blood called prostate-specific antigen. This protein is usually overproduced by prostate cancer cells. So, if prostate cancer is present, there will be an increase of PSA levels in the blood of the victim. Be aware that this isn’t completely accurate though is a good indicator.

If after these screening tests cancer is suspected, a biopsy may be performed. Here, a biopsy is used to gain a tissue sample from the prostate to be examined under a microscope. This biopsy tissue analysis is performed to determine the Gleason score or if the tumor is cancerous or not.

At this point, you and your doctor have a good idea IF you have cancer and at what stage it has developed. It’s at this point that a strategy for beating prostate cancer is development and options are discussed.

Be aware that in the great majority of cases, the symptoms are caused by prostatitis and are not cancerous. The point however is why anyone would want to stay in denial and think they have cancer instead of going in and getting an accurate diagnosis of the situation. Besides, there are mediations now available to treat prostatitis and help alleviate many of the most common symptomatic complaints

Abigail Franks has written many articles on the subject of prostate cancer. On her site you can find Prostate Cancer information [http://www.prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com/prostate-cancer-information/prostate-cancer-information-index.html] and more about early detection with Prostate Cancer tests

As with all cancers, early detection provides the best chances at survival and recovery. Affecting over 230,000 men nationwide, prostate cancer, considered the most curable cancer, has an almost 100 percent chance for cure if found in the early stages. Unlike some cancers, there are some simple screening tests that can provide very early information, even before any symptoms arise.

For most men prostate screening is recommended at age 50 and annually thereafter. For individuals with one or more risk factors, being African-American or having any family history of prostate cancer, (relatives such as father, brother or son), routine prostate screens are recommended starting at age 45.

For a thorough screening, two procedures are conducted.

The Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Test is a simple blood test measuring a biological indicator. During a routing physical, men have a rectal exam that checks for physical signs of enlargement in the prostate area. Physicians may counsel men on the importance of understanding risk factors and submitting to an annual prostate screening.

In prostate cancer, cells in the prostate grow and regenerate in an uncontrolled manor, which damages surrounding tissue and can interrupt normal prostate function. When these cells spread to other parts of the body, it is still referred to as prostate cancer, after its place of origin.

Treatments – Conventional and Unconventional

Surgery to remove a cancerous prostate is often performed. The use of laparoscopic surgery has eliminated the need for a large incision and an extended recovery period. An even newer technology, robotic surgery, may be the next leap ahead in minimally invasive surgery. With the margin of error between the prostate and the cancerous cells being only millimeters, the precision of robotics is ideal. Important quality-of- life issues associated with prostate surgery are preservation of sexual and urinary function, and reducing the possibility of surgical damage to key nerves is important.

Most patients with prostate cancer die when the cancer spreads to the bones. In an effort to increase survival and prolong remission for patients whose cancer has spread to the bone, studies are investigating chemotherapy in combination with insertion of a radioisotope (radiation emitting agent) directly into the bone. Though traditional chemotherapy is the standard treatment, remission is short. The use of the radioisotope with chemotherapy targets bones with the isotope compound and radiates the tumor inside the bone.

When bone cancer can be subdued, and pain is reduced, patients report a better standard of living. This combination prolongs survival for some months, but as important, gives the patient a much better quality of life.

Some chemotherapeutic agents are so specific they can cut the blood supply to the tumor, trigger programmed cancer cell death.

Like some breast cancers in women, the majority of prostate cancers are hormone-affected. Prostate tumors use the male hormone, testosterone, to fuel tumor growth. Of the 230,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States, about one-third need hormone therapy, removal all testosterone from the body, to shrink the tumor.

Though treatment of onset stage of prostate cancer is highly successful, the need for early diagnosis is just as critical. PSA testing has made early diagnosis and cure rate for prostate cancer the highest of any cancer.