What are the signs of prostate cancer?

What is prostate cancer?

If you're a man, your chances of developing prostate cancer at some point in your life are around one in eight. Unfortunately, statistics show that men are also less likely than women to seek and receive healthcare.

Prostate cancer exclusively affects men because only those born male have the prostate gland. Dr Tariq Mahmood, medical director at Concepto Diagnostics¹, explains:

"The prostate, a gland underneath the bladder which helps produce semen, continues to grow as you get older. When your prostate cells grow in an uncontrollable way, it can result in prostate cancer."

What causes prostate cancer?

Scientists are unsure of the exact cause, but there are known risk factors that make you more likely to develop prostate cancer.

Some of these prostate cancer risk factors are unpreventable:

• Ageing - most cases occur in men over 75 years of age.

• Ethnicity - cases are more common in African-Caribbean men and less common in Asian men.

Other prostate cancer risk factors are influenced by your lifestyle:

• Obesity - can increase your risk of advanced prostate cancer³. This is because obesity can cause chronic (long-term) inflammation, where your immune system sends out cells to fight things that harm your body (normally toxins, infections, or injuries). Over time, this can damage your organs and tissues.

• Diet - eating high-fat foods and not enough fruit and vegetables is thought to be a possible risk factor.

• Exposure to the metal cadmium - encountering this metal through industrial work, cigarette smoking, or contaminated food may increase your risk because it can alter the DNA of your cells⁴.

Is prostate cancer hereditary?

Family history is also a significant factor. Around 10% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer develop it due to hereditary prostate cancer syndrome. Family members pass down their genes to relatives, which instruct all the cells in the body what to do. If members of your family have a gene mutation (a random change in these instructions) then this can make cancer more likely⁵.

Your'e at higher risk if ...

• Your father or brother had prostate cancer before the age of 60.

• You have female family members with inherited breast cancer.

What are the signs of prostate cancer?

So how can you tell if you have prostate cancer? The truth is that in most cases, you can't. Many men don't have symptoms, displaying no noticeable signs of prostate cancer at all.

"Both the symptoms and treatment of prostate cancer can vary on a case-by-case basis," explains Dr Mahmood. "Some people have no symptoms, and others don't require treatment if they do have prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer can also spread very quickly with serious effects."

This makes getting a diagnosis of prostate cancer very important. The earlier your diagnosis, the better chance you may have of getting rid of it.

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What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

Sometimes, you can spot signs of prostate cancer. These signs vary depending on where the cancer is growing.

"Again, these symptoms can be caused by other health problems, but if you notice a combination of these symptoms then you should contact a healthcare professional," cautions Dr Mahmood.

If your doctor suspects prostate cancer, they may ask you to have a blood test to see if it is more likely. This is known as a prostate specific antigen test (PSA test). Another possible option is having a prostate biopsy, a procedure where needles are used to take small samples of tissue from your prostate which are then analysed. This can also indicate how likely it is for the cancer to spread. The biopsy would be done in hospital by a specialist urologist.

Is prostate cancer curable?

On a positive note, this common cancer has a 78% survival rate for 10 years or more from diagnosis². In many cases, prostate cancer grows slowly, doesn't reduce your life expectancy, and requires no treatment.

However, sometimes cancers grow more aggressively and spread quickly to other parts of the body. This can be life-threatening, and healthcare experts use stages to determine how much the cancer cells have spread in order to determine the most appropriate prostate cancer treatment options.

Early-stage prostate cancer - which hasn't spread beyond the prostate - can be cured through treatment (although in some cases cancer returns months or years later). In the case of later stages, treatments may aim to slow or limit its growth, or to ease symptoms.

If you are concerned about your prostate health, you should speak to your healthcare provider.

Further reading

1. Concepto Diagnostics Clinic.

2. Cancer Research UK "Prostate cancer statistics".

3. Olivas and Price "Obesity, Inflammation, and Advanced Prostate Cancer".

4. Genchi, Sinicropi, Lauria, Carocci, and Catalano "The Effects of Cadmium Toxicity".

5. Prostate Cancer UK "Are you at risk?".