Your Prostate

The prostate is a gland found only in males. It makes a fluid that goes into the man's semen. Normally the prostate is about an inch and a half in diameter, the size of a plum or a golf-ball.

The prostate is positioned in a critical part of the body: in the lower abdomen at the base of the penis below the urinary bladder and in front of the rectum.

It wraps around the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder down the penis.

Three main conditions affect the health of the prostate:

• Prostatitis and Lower Urinary Tract symptoms (LUTS)
• BPH (benign hypertrophy or enlargment of the prostate)
• Prostate cancer (PCa).

All three of these conditions may eventually cause problems with the urinary system and overall health. But prostatitis or a benign enlarged prostate may affect a man morenoticeably than does early-stage prostate cancer.

Early stage prostate cancer usually has no symptoms. Even metastatic disease may exist without causing symptoms or signs.

By the time prostate cancer causes symptoms the tumor is quite far advanced. A number of treatments are available for advanced prostate cancer, but as yet there is no cure.

If symptoms do occur, you may experience any of the following:

• dull pain in the lower pelvic area
• frequent urination
• other problems with urination such as inability, pain, burning, weakened urine flow
• blood in the urine or semen
• painful ejaculation
• general pain in the lower back, hips or upper thighs
• loss of appetite and/or weight; and persistent bone pain.

Any of the symptoms above can be caused by non-cancerous conditions. Prostatitis and LUTS may cause discomfort, fever, and/or lower back pain even in a young man. If he goes to the doctor, usually, a 3 to 6 week course of antibiotic such as Cipro will be prescribed, and will bring relief.

Men with BPH generally notice changes in urination like hesitant stream, urgency, nighttime frequency. These changes are bothersome. Most men with BPH who visit a doctor will mention this bother. They can then be advised of medications and procedures to help and be advised that neglecting BPH can lead to conditions like kidney failure.

Don't wait for symptoms like these before going to a urologist for a prostate cancer checkup.

Posted August 7, 2005

This page compiled by J. Strax, last updated Dec26, 2005

Information above is not intended as medical advice nor to be taken as such. Consult qualified physicians specializing in the treatment of prostate cancer. Neither the editors nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or consequences from the use or misuse of the information contained on this website.

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