What Is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is so prevalent that one out of ten men will develop it in their lifetime. There are about 250,000 cases of prostate cancer in the United States every year, making it one of the most common diseases for men. It is also quite prevalent in the UK.

It is interesting to note that African Americans are more prone to the disease than Caucasians. Prostate cancer is also suspected to be very common in South Africa although there has been no large-scale research conducted in that area. The occurrence of prostate cancer increases with age, and it has been found that approximately 70% of men over 80 have developed prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Facts

Prostate cancer has been observed to originate in the epithelial cells of the glands of the prostate. As with most types of cancers, defects in the DNA of the cell forms a large part in the development of the disease. Cancers begin to develop when DNA defects become significant. Usually this takes some time which is why victims are usually older people. Approximately 9 percent of all prostate cancer seems to be genetic. Genetically-related prostate cancer usually appears at an earlier age.

Not all diseases in the prostate can be attributed to prostate cancer. Oftentimes, symptoms attributed to prostate cancer are actually prostatitis. Like prostate cancer, it is common among older men. However, it can occur much earlier in men sometimes at the age of 30. Prostatitis can be treated although diagnosis can be sometimes lengthy. There are three types of prostatitis: acute, non-bacterial and chronic. It's important to distinguish them from prostate cancer.

Acute prostatitis develops faster than other types of prostatitis but can be temporary in nature. Non-bacterial prostatitis is usually called chronic male pelvic pain syndrome because the cause of the disease is not bacterial in nature. Chronic prostatitis develops slowly and only has subtle symptoms however the condition continues for a long period of time.

Just to be sure that a person is indeed suffering from prostatitis and not prostate cancer a prostate exam is necessary. Biopsies usually do a good job in ruling out the incidence of prostate cancer. Because of the prevalence of many types of diseases in the prostate, men should go to their doctors at the earliest signs of pain in the prostate. Exams should correspond to the susceptibility of the individual. For instance, African Americans should have prostate exams at a younger age.