Prostate Cancer Center: Stages, Symptoms, Detection, Treatment
Cancer, probably it is one of the most feared words in the medical field because it is among those diseases that takes millions of lives per year across the world. Cancer is a group of diseases and its onset starts in the body in the body when your body cell starts growing uncontrollably and radiates to other normal cells. Generally your body cells grow at normal rate but when the onset of cancer cells starts to rise then that cancer cell starts dividing itself into other cells resulting in radiation of other cells. It is estimated that 8.2 million lives were lost in 2014 just because of cancer. This number is likely to increase in upcoming years. Any part of your body can be affected by cancer and anyone can be affected by cancer, it doesn’t differentiate between male and female, young and old. Mortality rate has been increased over the years and some of the cancer forms have not any effective treatments. There are various kinds of cancer depends on which part of the body has been affected. Prostate cancer, blood cancer, breast cancer, basal cell cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and many other forms of cancer. Today we are going to talk about one of the cancers and that one is prostate cancer. The prostate is a gland that is the part of male genitals systems. In protest cancer the normal cells starts growing uncontrollably and radiates other cells as well. The physician describes growth and spread of the cancer in stages and later on these stages are the guide that tells the physicians to choose treatment options and according to the stage of the cancer they start treatment. In order to know the stage of prostate cancer most doctors start using TNM. The TNM classification system describes the extent of many types of solid tumors cancers and describes the different stages of cancer growth. Below are some stages of prostate cancers stages that you should consider:
Stage 1: This is initial stage of cancer and usually cancer tumor is not detected in this stage of cancer. This also means that the cancer cells have not spread outside of the prostate. The discovery of prostate cancer is 80% with a 5 year survival; rate.
Stage 2: In this stage of cancer the tumor remains in the prostate and doesn’t come out of the prostate but this time it is bigger than the earlier one and chances are increased that it will grow faster. In this form of cancer the tumor may or may not be detected.
Stage 3: The cancer may have radiated the tube that carries semen but still not have radiated other internal organs. In this form of prostate cancer the cancer cells used to spread faster than the earlier one and it can be considered advanced stage of prostate cancer.
Stage 4: In this form of cancer, the cancer cells may have spread across the organs such as lymph nodes, bladder, rectum, bones and other parts of the body as well. About 20-30 percent cases are diagnosed at this stage.
Above are some of the prostate cancer stages have been described and those cancer stages have been described on the basis of how far the cancer cells have reached in your body and how large the tumor is. There are various symptoms you will have to face from its initial stage to its advanced stage. You may not feel symptoms at its earlier stage but as the cancer starts getting severe you will also start feeling the symptoms of this disease. Once the cancer cells stimulate inflammation of your prostate and if once these tumors breakout then you may have to bear symptoms such as a frequent feeling of relinquishing urine, you may find it difficult to stop urine stream, blood in urine and semen, feeling of pain and burning sensation during relinquishing urine and a weak or interrupted urine symptoms. Usually when these symptoms arise then it can be called one of the advance stage of prostate cancer because at its initial stage it usually don’t cause any kind of symptoms. There are many ways that a prostate cancer can be diagnosed. One of the best ways to diagnose prostate cancer early is by screening. It is a test that finds a disease in people with no any symptoms. Screening can help find various kind of cancer at their early stage when they have better prognosis. Two of the most common screening tests for prostate cancer are the digital rectal exam (DRE) and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
PSA Test
PSA is a type of protein that is released by prostate tissue that is found in men’s blood. This level can be raised if there is an abnormal activity in your prostate. There doctor may look at some of the features of PSA values such as absolute level, change over time, and level in relation to prostate size.
DRE Test
A doctor uses the DRE test to find abnormal parts of the prostate by feeling the area of the finger. This test is not considered effective and most men with DRE test are failed to detect this condition.
Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)
A doctor inserts a probe into the rectum that takes the pictures using sound waves that bounces off the prostate. You treatment for prostate cancer depends on various factors that may include how fast you cancer cells are growing, how much it has spread and it also depends on your overall health condition. For those who have been diagnosed very early stage of prostate cancer, treatment may not be necessary right away because some men may never need treatment of this kind of cancer but you should be active and regularly follow up your blood test and some of the other tests and on the basis of these test if your cancer is spreading then you can consult with doctor, you may adopt cancer treatment such as surgery or radiation. In surgery the increasing tumor and some of the healthy tumors are removed during an operation. It is removed in order to keep safe your other organs before it spread to the parts of the body. In radiation therapy high energy rays are being used to destroy cancer cells. A doctor who specializes in giving radiation therapy to treat is called radiation oncologist. Radiation therapy may cause some of the immediate effects such as diarrhea, or other problem with bowel function such as gas, bleeding, burning sensation and pain. After this treatment you will become neutering but it is better than losing your life. There are other side effects as well that will not show after the treatment as well and even for a year or two but later in your life you may feel it.
