Typically none. Sometimes trouble urinating, erectile dysfunction, or pain in the back/pelvis.
Usual onset
Age > 40
Risk factors
Older age, family history, race
Diagnostic method
PSA test followed by tissue biopsy
Differential diagnosis
Benign prostatic hyperplasia
Treatment
Active surveillance, prostatectomy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy
Prognosis
Five-year survival rates range from 30–99%, depending on stage.[1]
Prostate cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Early prostate cancer causes no symptoms. Abnormal growth of prostate tissue is usually detected through screening tests, typically blood tests that check for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Those with high levels of PSA in their blood are at increased risk for developing prostate cancer. Diagnosis requires a biopsy of the prostate. If cancer is present, the pathologist assigns a Gleason score, and a higher score represents a more dangerous tumor. Medical imaging is performed to look for cancer that has spread outside the prostate. Based on the Gleason score, PSA levels, and imaging results, a cancer case is assigned a stage 1 to 4. A higher stage signifies a more advanced, more dangerous disease.
Most prostate tumors remain small and cause no health problems. These are managed with active surveillance, monitoring the tumor with regular tests to ensure it has not grown. Tumors more likely to be dangerous can be destroyed with radiation therapy or surgically removed by radical prostatectomy. Those whose cancer spreads beyond the prostate are treated with hormone therapy which reduces levels of the androgens (male sex hormones) that prostate cells need to survive. Eventually cancer cells can grow resistant to this treatment. This most-advanced stage of the disease, called castration-resistant prostate cancer, is treated with continued hormone therapy alongside the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. Some tumors metastasize (spread) to other areas of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes. There, tumors cause severe bone pain, leg weakness or paralysis, and eventually death.
Prostate cancer prognosis depends on how far the cancer has spread at diagnosis. Most men diagnosed have tumors confined to the prostate; 99% of them survive more than 10 years from their diagnoses. Tumors that have metastasized to distant body sites are most dangerous, with five-year survival rates of 30–40%.
The risk of developing prostate cancer increases with age; the average age of diagnosis is 67. Those with a family history of any cancer are more likely to have prostate cancer, particularly those who inherit cancer-associated variants of the BRCA2 gene. Each year 1.2 million cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed, and 350,000 die of the disease,[2] making it the second-leading cause of cancer and cancer death in men. One in eight men is diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime and one in forty dies of the disease.[3] Prostate tumors were first described in the mid-19th century, during surgeries on men with urinary obstructions. Initially, prostatectomy was the primary treatment for prostate cancer. By the mid-20th century, radiation treatments and hormone therapies were developed to improve prostate cancer treatment. The invention of hormone therapies for prostate cancer was recognized with the 1966 Nobel Prize to Charles B. Huggins and the 1977 Prize to Andrzej W. Schally.
^Rebello et al. 2021, "Figure 3: Prostate cancer stages and progression.".
Disorders of the prostate include enlargement, inflammation, infection, and cancer. The word prostate comes from Ancient Greek προστάτης, prostátēs, meaning "one...
Prostatecancer screening is the screening process used to detect undiagnosed prostatecancer in men without signs or symptoms. When abnormal prostate...
Prostatecancer staging is the process by which physicians categorize the risk of cancer having spread beyond the prostate, or equivalently, the probability...
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also called prostate enlargement, is a noncancerous increase in size of the prostate gland. Symptoms may include frequent...
Prostate massage is part of the digital rectal examination (DRE) routinely given to men by urologists in order to look for nodules of prostatecancer...
Treatment for prostatecancer may involve active surveillance, surgery, radiation therapy – including brachytherapy (prostate brachytherapy) and external-beam...
treatment of prostatecancer. It is indicated for use in conjunction with castration in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostatecancer (mCRPC)...
reliable screening test for prostatecancer. This examination may be used: for the diagnosis of prostatic disorders, benign prostatic hyperplasia and the four...
conditions that cause urinary retention, as well as for prostatecancer and for other cancers of the pelvis. There are two main types of prostatectomies...
on the risk of prostatecancer. Two large studies examining the issue were "Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of ProstateCancer" and "Sexual Factors...
removed from a man's prostate gland to be examined for the presence of prostatecancer. It is typically performed when the result from a PSA blood test is...
retired prostate surgeon and professor of urology, researcher, writer on men's health and prostate disease, founding editor of the journal ProstateCancer and...
commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, esophageal and skin cancer and can also be used to treat tumours in many other body...
medication. It may also hide the early symptoms of certain forms of prostatecancer. Finasteride was patented in 1984 and approved for medical use in 1992...
treatment for testicular cancer as part of gender-affirming surgery for transgender women as management for advanced prostatecancer to remove damaged testes...
comparable (for example, prostatecancer). Sometimes, they are used together (e.g., rectal cancer or early stage breast cancer). The benefit of external...
treatment. For some common cancers the staging process is well-defined. For example, in the cases of breast cancer and prostatecancer, doctors routinely can...
Active surveillance is a management option for localized prostatecancer that can be offered to appropriate patients who would also be candidates for...
used to treat prostatecancer. Specifically it is used together with a corticosteroid for metastatic castration-resistant prostatecancer (mCRPC) and metastatic...
never pose harm to an individual. Breast cancer, prostatecancer, and colorectal cancer are examples of cancer types that are prone to overdiagnosis. The...
others, is an antiandrogen medication that is primarily used to treat prostatecancer. It is typically used together with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone...
increase risk of prostatecancer. The American Cancer Society (ACS) have stated that because dairy products "may lower the risk of some cancers and possibly...
the invasion of cancer to the space surrounding a nerve. It is common in head and neck cancer, prostatecancer and colorectal cancer. Unlike perineural...
The ProstateCancer Foundation (PCF), headquartered in Santa Monica, California, funds research into the prevention and cure of prostatecancer. Several...
in 2018, the Task Force recommended that prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostatecancer screenings be an individual decision for...
types of cancer in males are lung cancer, prostatecancer, colorectal cancer, and stomach cancer. In females, the most common types are breast cancer, colorectal...
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