5 Facts to Know about Prostate Cancer
Submitted to OnFocus – National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is intended to educate men about prostate cancer risk factors, screening and treatment options.
Many expert resources are available through your Aspirus physician and national organizations. Here are five facts to improve your awareness about prostate cancer:
It’s the most common non-skin cancer in men. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1 in 9 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime. But most of these men will die with prostate cancer, not of it. This is because prostate cancer often grows slowly.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Only lung cancer kills more U.S. men. So prostate cancer is still a serious disease that can shorten a man’s life, especially if he develops it at a younger age.
Getting older raises your risk. Your chances of getting prostate cancer go up significantly after age 50. However, African American men tend to develop prostate cancer at a younger age (and more often) than other men do. If prostate cancer runs in your family, your own chances of getting the disease may be higher too.
There are usually no early symptoms. As prostate cancer grows, it may cause problems like difficulty urinating, blood in the urine or semen, erectile dysfunction, or back or hip pain. But other things can cause these symptoms as well.
Sometimes the right treatment is no treatment. Prostate cancer treatment can have serious side effects, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Because of this risk—and since the disease often grows slowly—some men choose to delay treatment and have their doctors routinely monitor them with blood tests and exams instead. Other men may choose to be treated right away with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or other options.
Visit the Aspirus website to learn more about how advanced treatments and technology available at Aspirus.
We welcome your stories! Contact us at [email protected]!
Author: News Desk
This piece was posted by our news team! Contact us or submit stories at [email protected].
