Prostate Cancer: The Basics
This article may be useful if you were born with a penis, prostate, and testicles.
The prostate is a gland. It sits between the bladder and the penis. It secretes (puts out) the fluid in semen.
Prostate cancer happens when prostate cells grow out of control. As the number of cells grows, they form a tumor. Prostate cancer often grows slowly. If it grows quickly, it can metastasize (spread) to nearby lymph nodes and other body parts, most often the bones. Prostate cancer that has spread from the prostate to another part of the body is called metastatic cancer.
Risk Factors
Risk factors for prostate cancer are:
- Being over age 60 (although you can be diagnosed at any age).
- African American ethnicity and Caribbean ethnicity with African ancestry.
- Eating a diet high in animal fat.
- Family history of prostate cancer.
Screening
There are two tests used to screen for prostate cancer: digital rectal exam (DRE) and prostate specific antigen test (PSA).
- During a DRE, your provider will place a gloved, lubricated finger into your anus to feel the prostate and check for any abnormalities.
- A PSA test is a blood test that measures for a protein made by the prostate. The PSA level gets higher when there is prostate cancer. However, this protein can be higher for other health reasons or may not always be higher in some cases of prostate cancer.
You should talk with their healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of screening.
- If you are at average risk for prostate cancer, you should have this talk starting at age 50.
- If you have a father or brother who is diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 65, or if you are African American, you should have this talk starting at age 45.
- If you have more than one relative (father and brother) with prostate cancer, you should talk with your healthcare provider starting at age 40 about when to get a prostate cancer screening.
Signs & Symptoms of Prostate Cancer
The early stages of prostate cancer are most often found with PSA tests or digital rectal exams before they cause any symptoms. Some more advanced prostate cancers can cause symptoms such as:
- Trouble starting to urinate.
- Urinating more often than usual.
- The feeling that you can’t release all of your urine.
- Pain with urination or ejaculation.
- Blood in the urine or semen.
- Impotence.
- Bone Pain.
Many of these symptoms can be caused by things other than prostate cancer, so if you have them, it doesn't always mean you have prostate cancer. You should call your provider right away if you have any of these symptoms.
Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer
If your provider thinks you have prostate cancer, they will order tests such as:
- PSA.
- Digital rectal exam.
- If your provider feels any abnormalities during a digital rectal exam and/or if your PSA level is high, you will need to have a biopsy of the prostate. This is done using a trans-rectal ultrasound. During this test, a thin ultrasound probe is put into the rectum and used to view the prostate. Any samples that are taken are sent to a lab to be looked at by a pathologist.
A Gleason score is the scale used to grade prostate cancers. A pathologist will give your prostate cancer a Gleason score. A pathology report summarizes these results and is sent to your healthcare provider, often 5-10 days after the biopsy. This report is an important part of planning your treatment. You can ask for a copy of your report for your records.
Staging Prostate Cancer
To guide treatment, prostate cancer is "staged." The stages are based on:
- Where and how big the tumor is.
- If cells are found in the lymph nodes.
- If cancer cells are found in other areas of the body.
- PSA and histologic grade (G).
This information is combined to give a stage from 0 (zero) to IV (four), with IV being the most advanced.
Treatment
Prostate cancer can be treated a few ways. A second opinion can help you to learn more about your options. In many cases, you may have several good options for treatment. In that case, it is important to weigh the side effects and decide what option is best for you.
- Active Surveillance (Watchful Waiting): This is when you decide not to have active therapy, but you are closely watched to see if the cancer grows.
- Surgery: Removal of your whole prostate. The two surgical procedures are radical prostatectomy and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Surgery can also be used to relieve symptoms in advanced stage prostate cancers.
- Radiation: May be used in both early stage (to cure the cancer) and more advanced stage prostate cancer (to relieve symptoms). Both external beam therapy and brachytherapy may be used. External beam therapy can be done in two forms: x-ray and proton.
- Hormonal Deprivation Therapy: The hormone testosterone helps prostate cancer grow. By removing testosterone from the body, the cancer may shrink and/or grow more slowly. This can be done with medication or removal of one or both testicles.
- Chemotherapy: The use of chemotherapy is used for more advanced stages of prostate cancer that are no longer responsive to hormonal therapy.
- Targeted therapy: A type of treatment that attacks cancer cells, while largely leaving normal cells alone. Targeted therapies change how cancer cells grow and divide, and how they act within the body. Examples of targeted therapies for prostate cancer are rucaparib, niraparib, talazoparib and olaparib. These medications work if you have a mutation in either your BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Your provider will test you for this before treatment with these medications.
- Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy uses the immune system to fight cancer. Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) is a cancer vaccine immunotherapy used to treat metastatic prostate cancer that is no longer responding to hormonal treatments. Pembrolizumab is used to treat some prostate cancers.
This article is a basic guide to prostate cancer. You can learn more about prostate cancer and treatment by using the links below.