Things You Should Know About Prostrate Cancer

To the medical community and health profession a cancer that begins its growth inside of the prostrate gland and often ends up spreading from there is know as prostrate cancer. It is predominantly male orientated and is considered extremely serious because of its ability to spread rapidly from prostrate gland over many parts of the body if undetected. Often prostrate cancer is known to spread into the bones and lymph nodes and once it has progressed this far is often fatal. Although several other types of cancer also can begin in the prostrate gland none are able to spread as rapidly as prostrate cancer does.

When, medical specialists refer to cancer, they are referring to an uncontrolled growth of abnormal and harmful cells and when these cells begin to spread or multiply they term the process of this growth and spread metastasis. So when a prostrate cancer is diagnosed as having metastasized it means it has already begun to spread from the prostrate gland to other parts of the body and is growing out of control.

Next to skin cancer, prostrate cancer is the number one cancer that affects men and has proved to be growing in numbers over the last ten years. Although this may sound like more of the male population may be affected by prostrate cancer the researchers believe it is more likely that the ability of easier blood testing for prostrate-specific antigen or PSA is the actual reason for the change in statistics. This simple but effective blood test screens the blood and offers an early warning system of possible cancers.

Prostrate cancer will strike men of any age but the most predominate is the age group of men over 65. It is also quite common in the 50 and over age group but not as many as over 65. Hundreds of thousands of males are affected by this on an annual basis and at least 180,000 new cases of prostrate cancer are detected each year. An estimated 30,000 of those 180,000 cases will prove fatal.

Statistical research has shown that North America and northwestern Europe both share the highest prostrate cancer rates in the world. Interestingly males from sub-Saharan African descent have the highest rates in the world and scientists have yet to understand why. Another oddity is that Asian and Central and South American countries and their male populations have a very low rate of this type of cancer. African males in the United States, statistics show, have the highest risk of developing prostrate cancer and also the lowest rate of survival when compared to the Caucasian male population of the United States. One theory put forward is that prostrate cancer is not diagnosed till later in African Americans and is much harder to successfully treat and cure when it is fully developed and into the later stages.

As with other chronic illnesses age is truly the biggest risk factor when it comes to battling prostrate cancer as it has been proven to be with most types of other cancers. The older we get the more the chances are of us developing this illness. When we look at the figures it shows that over 75% of men over 65 will be diagnosed with having this cancer. Family history of cancer also increases the odds of someone developing prostrate cancer. Although some research suggests that diets rich in meats and fats contribute to the risk factor of men getting prostrate cancer there is still a lot more research that is needed before conclusive results are known.

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