Prostate cancer is thought to be a potentially preventable cancer in many cases.

SYMPTOMS OF PROSTATE CANCER

The disease has no symptoms in its earliest, most curable stage, however, side effects – even of successful treatment – may include incontinence, impotence and changes in bowel habits.

Symptoms may include slow or painful urination, blood or pus in the urine, painful ejaculation and pain in the lower back or abdomen, pelvis or upper thighs.

DIAGNOSING AND TREATMENTS FOR PROSTATE CANCER

For men over 40 years old, your doctor may recommend a prostate examination, including a digital rectal exam (DRE) and a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test.

Prostate cancer is often slow growing: in some patients, close monitoring may be sufficient treatment. Others, with more aggressive disease, warrant radical treatment with surgery or radiation. The latter treatments are sometimes combined with hormonal therapy.

INCREASE IN PROSTATE CANCER RATES

Between 1989 and 1993 there was a sharp rise in the number of prostate cancer diagnoses. This sudden spike occurred after years of slow but steady increases in the incidence rate.

Experts believe that the increased number of diagnoses between 1989 and 1993 was not the result of new cases, but rather a result of previously undiagnosed cancer being caught by the PSA test.

Now that all the formerly undetected cancers have been diagnosed, the incidence rates have gone back to their slow and steady uphill climb.

The good news is that, between 1994 and 2003, fewer men died from the disease (2.7% average yearly decline). We don’t know if the lowered death rate is a result of early detection, better treatments or both.