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Prostate Cancer Symptoms

What are the symptoms?

You may never have any symptoms or problems from the disease. That's because some types of prostate cancer can be slow-growing and may not become a serious threat to your health before you die from old age! On the other hand, others can take a faster-growing, more aggressive form and may be more harmful.

Early prostate cancer rarely causes symptoms. This is because the cancer is not large enough to put pressure on the urethra, which it encircles. If the cancer grows and spreads beyond the prostate (advanced prostate cancer), it may cause the following problems:

However, these symptoms are common to many conditions, especially enlarged prostate (BPH) and may not be advanced prostate cancer. They can also indicate the presence of other diseases or disorders, so if you're experiencing any of these symptoms you'll have to undergo a thorough examination to determine their underlying cause.

Diagnosis

If you decide to consult a doctor about your symptoms, he'll ask you about them and give you an examination. He may do some of the following tests himself or alternatively refer you to a urologist (a specialist) to get them done:

There are two main ways urologists and oncologists grade prostate cancer: one, called the Gleason system, uses scores of 2 to 10. Another system uses G1 through G4. The higher the score, the higher the grade of the tumour. High-grade tumours grow more quickly and are more likely to spread than low-grade tumours.

The important thing to remember is that so-called prostate symptoms, although they can be a nuisance, are not necessarily symptoms of prostate cancer, and in many cases successfully respond to palliative treatment. And even if you do have prostate cancer, you may die of old age before it can kill you.


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