What You Need Know About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a kind of ailment that affects men only. The prostate gland, which uniquely found in the men, is about the size of walnut located below the bladder and in front of the rectum. Following the anatomy of the male organ, the tube that carries urine called the urethra, runs through the prostate. The prostate gland plays a vital role in men's reproductive function as it contains cells that supply seminal fluid that protects and nourishes the sperm of the male. Fertility of male sperm cells depends largely on the ability of the prostate gland to provide the seminal fluids.
As the male person grows, the prostate also grows. However, the growth of the prostate depends large on the male hormones that feed it. In most instances, where the male hormone level is low, the prostate will not be able to grow to its full size. In some cases, especially in older men, the part of the prostate around the urethra sometimes keeps on growing and cause what is called benign prostatic hyperlasia or BPH which causes problems in urinating. Although this condition is often uncomfortable, this does not really pose serious treats to the health of the patient.
While BPH is considerable harmless, prostate cancer is often fatal. There are several types of cells located in the prostate; however, nearly all prostate cancers originate in the gland cells. This type of cancer is known as prostate adenocarcinoma, which is usually a slow growing cancer. Many older men have this type of cancer and some of them are not even aware that they have it. There are cases when older men who died of some other causes are autopsied and found to be suffering of prostate cancer as well. While these older men were alive, they never complained of any problems urinating or other symptoms, which could be associated with prostate disorders.
Prostate Cancer In The News
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How does prostate cancer start? Until now, nobody can really tell exactly how prostate cancer starts in a person. Some doctors believe that prostate cancer starts with very minute often undetectable changes in the size and shape of the prostate glands. The changes in the prostate glands are known as prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia or PIN, which can either, be low grade (almost normal) or the high-grade change, which is abnormal. In cases where your biopsy shows that you have abnormal of high-grade PIN, you should start to plan for further test. Having high-grade PIN could mean you have prostate cancer cells in your prostate. As in all types of cancers, early detection could save your life so do not hesitate to take that further test and if your doctor do not recommend further test, you know better and demand for it.
Although prostate cancer is usually slow growing, there are instances where is growth is fast and spreads quickly. Unfortunately, even with the latest technology available, it remains difficult to really tell which cancer cells would growth fast and which ones would tend to growth very slow. Whether or not cancer cells grow fast or slow remains a question in the medical society. Another factor is that most cancer cases are unique in itself and are managed in differently, depending on the prognosis.
Related Prostate Treatment Tips and Articles
