What is prostate cancer??!
Question: My friend's father has it, and I'd like to know a little more about it...
thanks!
Answers: My friend's father has it, and I'd like to know a little more about it...
thanks!
First off, the prostate is a small gland that only men have. It's donut shaped and about the size of a walnut, sits under the bladder and produces a liquid to support sperm. Most men over 55 will have an enlarged prostate for unknown reasonbut this is totally harmless apart from causing a few symptoms. In those where the prostate has become cancerous, there is a presence of malignant cancer cells growing within the prostate. Its not a particulally agressive cancer, fairly slow growing, and is farly simple to treat with surgery or radiotherapy. Hope that helps.
look it up on web md. it'll tell you anything you need to know.
Cancer occurs when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Normal cells divide and grow in an orderly fashion, but cancer cells do not. They continue to grow and crowd out normal cells. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all have in common this out-of-control growth of cells.
The prostate is a gland found only in men at the base of the urethra. check the diagram
I already told you dingdong!!!!jkjk
Michael gave you a very good, scientific answer. However, I'll let you know about it from a personal standpoint (my father was diagnosed in 2000). The good news about prostate cancer is that, if found early enough, there are many treatment options. The most common is surgery to remove the prostate. Another treatment option is radiation and finally there is hormone therapy. Surgery is usually used when the cancer is confined to the prostate. My father underwent hormone therapy for seven years because by the time he was diagnosed, his cancer had already metastasized (spread) to his bones. When he was diagnosed his PSA was 250 (1-4 is normal and 10 is considered high)! We were VERY scared, but he did real well on Lupron and Casodex for seven years and while taking these treatments, his PSA was brought down to less than 1). Unfortunately, we found out in September that the cancer had spread farther and he is now in his end stages. Cancer success is measured by five year survival rates and he has lived seven and a half. I'll say a prayer for you and your family. I hope you have found it soon enough for him to be cancer free, but even if not, my father is an example of a person who can live several years with prostate cancer even if it has already spread.
There has been a long standing statement about prostate cancer that's proven to be true. "Young men die from it, old men die with it." That said, most men will have it at some time. Men who get it while in their younger years, less then 60 die more frequently because they either don't know they have it or find out too late.....mainly because they think it only affects much older men or being younger they're not tested for it. Older men, over 60 often know about it far ahead of time when it can be treated without much of a problem.
I work in the medical field and I see it all the time....a man in his 70's dies of lung cancer.....and oh, buy the way he also had prostate cancer, but that wasn't the cause of death.
Surviving has a lot to do with when you catch it. Today's treatment formats are aggressive and very successful.
I hope the best for your friends father. Cancer of any type is never easy to deal with and with most, early detection can make all the difference.
Charlie c.