Essay on prostate cancer

Submitted By trina8881234
Words: 4002
Pages: 17

Abstract
Prostate cancer is one of the major health concerns of the public. Worldwide prostate cancer has affected a big portion of the population and has become an issue for many males all around the world. Prostate cancer refers to the malignant growth of glandular cells located in the prostate. At the age of 85, a man is said to have a 1 in 5 chances of developing prostate cancer sometime in their life. Unfortunately Prostate cancer is a disease that does not give any warning signs when it is growing and so the clinical features of prostate are often nonspecific. Patients with prostate cancer have different types of treatment in which they can accept, there can be various methods such as surgery and theraypy toptions. There are several factors that affect an individual’s prognosis (change of recover) given the fact that the natural history of prostate cancer is dependent on the type of cancer, age, and general health of the patient at the time of diagnosis

Introduction
The role of the prostate is to add vital nutrients and fluid to the sperm. In the male reproductive system, the prostate is the gland that sits just below the bladder. Its position is located in front of the rectum, surrounding itself around the urethra [1]. It is often described as a relatively small walnut size gland whose position is what can later be the cause of many urinary difficulties that may be experience by many males. The reason is that, when the prostate gland enlarges either from normal growth or cancer the problem to urinate might occur as it pushes itself down onto the urethra making it increasingly difficult to urinate [3].
In Australia prostate cancer has become one of the more common types of cancer cases that’s been diagnosed in recent years. In 2009 prostate cancer had taken up over 30% of cancer cases which was diagnosed in Australian men [2]. Statistics show that in 2009 alone 19,400 new cases of prostate cases were diagnosed within Australia [2]. The number of deaths caused by this disease we reported with high statistics; 2,938 deaths reported in 2007 accounting for 13% of total cancer deaths in Australian men [3].
Prostate cancer refers to the malignant growth of glandular cells located in the prostate. Under normal circumstances these cells sit in the glands which are responsible for the production of fluids that make up most of the semen in males [2]. However once these cells lose their control, what happens is that they will keep on growing until they become cancerous [2]. Ultimately this means that the natural surrounding layers that did act like barriers for these cells are now broken and therefore allows the spread of these malignant cells to other organs within the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes [2]. When this does take place the risk of death also increases. At the age of 85, a man is said to have a 1 in 5 chances of developing prostate cancer sometime in their life. The risk is said to double if a male has a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Clinical features: Symptoms and signs
Every human body is slightly different in their own way and because of this reason there are people who do not experience symptoms of prostate cancer [3]. Unfortunately Prostate cancer is a disease that does not give any warning signs when it is growing. In most cases a male with prostate cancer does not receive any specific symptoms of concerns; reason is that prostate cancer usually grows very slow [5]. It is often very rare for physical symptoms to appear when one has prostate cancer because of its location in the prostate [5]. Even if it does produces symptoms, these are usually not directly related to prostate cancer itself instead its usually associated with other illness and so often these symptoms are nonspecific since if they do occur these symptoms could be a result of another type of condition other than prostate cancer [5].
Many men end up being diagnosed