What is prostate cancer?

The prostate cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the prostate gland that is located under the bladder. The urethra is surrounded by the prostate glands. Statistics suggests that about 180,000 people are suffering from prostate cancer in the United States alone and about 32,000 men die annually. The prostate cancer is the second more affected cancer of all the types of cancer next only to lung cancer.

What are the causes of prostate cancer?

The exact cause of the prostate cancer still remains unknown. The risk factors that contribute to the prostate cancer are advanced age, hereditary, environmental effects like the exposure to toxic chemicals and industry products. People aged above 40 are more prone to this type of cancer and rare in people below the age of 40.

The hereditary plays a vital role in the development of prostate cancer. For instance, the black people are more vulnerable to prostate cancer than the white people. These genetic propositions can be modified by a number of factors such as the diet and environment. For instance, if a Japanese lives in Japan, then he is less prone to prostate cancer than when he lives in America.

Prostate cancer commonly develops in the individual who have family background with prostate cancer. At present there are no proofs of the genes that are responsible for the development of prostate cancer. Both the prostate tissues and the prostate cancer cells are directly stimulated by the testosterone. Other factors such as cigarette smoking, high saturated fat diets are also known to increase the chance of developing prostate cancer.

What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

The prostate cancer may not show any symptoms in the early stages of the disease. They can go unnoticed for many years and can only be accidently found when taking a blood test. The doctor can diagnose with the help of digital examination by finding any abnormal growth. This growth can usually develop if left untreated and can cause inconvenience in the flow of urine.

In the advanced or the later stages of the prostate cancer, it can develop in to the nearby tissues. It can also spread to the other organs of the body through a process called metastasis and can cause secondary cancer.

Diagnosis of prostate cancer

The screening tests are the tests that are done to detect the diseases at their early stages. This should be done even if no abnormal symptoms show up in the body. This test is to only check the presence of any disease and further tests are required to isolate the particular disease present. In this case, the prostate cancer can be known by undergoing some specific test.