The prostate gland is located directly beneath the bladder and in front of the rectum. It’s estimated that approximately 234,460 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and approximately 27,350 will die of the disease. About one man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one man in 34 will die of the disease.

The most common cancer in American men, excluding skin cancer, is prostate cancer. Early prostate cancer is confined to the prostate gland itself; most of the patients with this type of cancer can live for years without any problems. Like other cancers, the cause of prostate cancer is not known; it appears to be more common in African American men and men with a family history of the disease.

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease are bone pain or tenderness, and abdominal pain. Having one or more cancer symptoms does not necessarily mean that you have prostate cancer. If cancer is caught at its earliest stages, most men will not experience any symptoms.

One symptom is a need to urinate frequently, especially at night. One prostate cancer symptom is difficulty starting urination or holding back urine. If you have one or more prostate cancer symptoms, you should see a qualified doctor as soon as possible.

When a digital rectal exam is performed it often reveals an enlarged prostate with a hard, irregular surface. A chest x-ray may be done to see if there’s a spread of cancer. A number of tests may be done to confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

A PSA test with a high level can also be from a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland. The decision about whether to pursue a PSA test should be based on a discussion between you and your doctor. A urinalysis may indicate if there is blood in the urine.

Medications can have many side effects, including hot flashes and loss of sexual desire. Surgery is usually only recommended after thorough evaluation and discussion of all available treatment options. Besides hormonal drugs, hormone manipulation may also be done by surgically removing the testes.

Urinary incontinence can be a possible complication of surgery. An oncology specialist will usually recommend treating with a single drug or a combination of drugs. Surgery, called a radical prostatectomy, removes the entire prostate gland and some of the surrounding tissues.

In patients whose health makes the risk of surgery unacceptably high, radiation therapy is often the chosen conventional alternative. Some drugs with numerous side effects are being used to treat advanced prostate cancer, blocking the production of testosterone, called chemical castration; it has the same result as surgical removal of the testes. Radiation therapy is used primarily to treat prostate cancers classified as stages A, B, or C.

Thoroughly discuss your treatment options and concerns with your doctor and other health professionals; it never hurts to get a second or even third opinion or more if necessary. Impotence is a potential complication after the prostatectomy or after radiation therapy. Recent improvements in surgical procedures have made complications occur less often.

Since prostate tumors require testosterone to grow, reducing the testosterone level is used to prevent further growth and spread of the cancer. Treatment options can vary based on the stage of the tumor.

Just about all men with prostate cancer survive at least five years after their diagnosis, 93% survive at least 10 years, and 67% survive more than 15 years. Make sure to read everything you can get your hands on and mull it all over. The one thing that you should not do however is rely on any information obtained from the Internet to make your final decision.

Helen Hecker
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/prostate-cancer-symptoms-what-you-can-do-about-it-129965.html

While diagnosed through something as deadly as cancer, fertility may not be the immediate concern. On the other hand, what time malignancy is cured and life goes on, the harmful effects of the treatment undergone may show up in the brand of impaired fertility. Ironically, fertility enhancing treatments also seem to have the same effect on tumor, by growing the possibility of cancer in women who undergo fertility treatment.

Treatment for infertility almost always involves intake of fertility drugs, on the other hand it appears with improving fertility and the chances of a woman to conceive, the fertility drugs may simultaneously be going up the danger of cancer. The risk of uterine malignancy in particular is seen to increase. Ovulation-inducing drugs are admired in treatment of infertility. The effects of these drugs on the health of the women who borrow them take not been verified yet.

The studies conducted on the topic come out with contradictory findings on the pilot relationship between medication intake and ovarian or breast Cancer. Certain constraints on the research such as the short duration of explore or inclusion of women with a higher propensity for tumor due to other reasons are cited as reasons for lack of absolute clarity in the findings. A recently conducted evaluate on 15,000 Israeli women 30 years after they gave birth was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Out of this large institute, 567 had used ovulation-inducing drugs. 362 women also took the fertility drug clomiphene. The consider revealed that the subjects developed malignancy at a higher rate than the other drug-free women; they were also at a higher possibility for developing other forms of cancer.

A consider conducted at the Stanford University also says that the correlation between ovarian cancer and fertility drugs was more predominant in those women who took fertility drugs, however never became pregnant. This could suggest the malignancy risk to be associated by the form of infertility rather than the treatment drug use itself.

Besides breast cancer, increased risk of developing other forms of cancer, analogous skin tumor and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were also noted. Still, in spite of the large sample used in the explore, scientists answer it is not calm to draw reliable conclusions because a specific history of fertility drug scrounge for all the women were not untaken. Also, only a very small percentage of women developed uterine tumor. The findings are nonetheless significant. Medication that blocks the brain’s estrogen receptors are begin to enlarge the risk of uterine malignancy.

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Technorati Tags: cancer, cancer symptoms, cancer treatment

There is a very tight bond between polyps and colon cancer. That is to say that, although polyps are almost always benign, if they do turn out to be malign then you develop colon cancer.

Polyps can be found in other parts of the body, besides the colon. In time, if you have these growths in your colon, you can develop colon cancer. The size and shape of the polyps varies. Almost all polyps that one has in the rectum are benign, that is to say that they do not cause colon cancer and do not cause any symptoms as well. As time goes by, so does the risk of developing colon cancer increases. If you have polyps and do not remove them, you will are much at risk of developing colon cancer. After five years the risk of colon cancer is only 3 percent, but in ten years time it goes as high as 10 percent. After almost twenty years from being diagnosed with polyps, the risk of developing colon cancer reaches almost 25 percent. If one has it’ s polyps removed, the risk of having colon cancer is almost 2 percent, compared to almost eight if you do not remove them. Furthermore, if the polyps are removed by colonoscopy then the risk of developing colon cancer is reduced considerably.

On the other hand, if you do get diagnosed with colon cancer, there is no need to worry very much. The rate of colon cancer cure is very good. One of the most important factors of risk when talking about colon cancer is age. As older you get, as bigger the risk of developing colon cancer gets. Moreover, men are also more at risk of having colon cancer than women. In this type of cancer, the color of your skin also seems to be a factor. Black people are more at risk of having colon cancer than white people are. If you are a drinker or if you smoke, then the risk of developing colon cancer further increases. Exercise and a proper weight are important when talking about colon cancer. For example, if you are a sedentary person or if you have a “few ” extra pounds, then the risk of colon cancer increases.

Studies have shown that if you do not eat enough vegetables or fruits, or if you smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day, then the risk of having polyps is much grater, thus increasing the risk of developing colon cancer.

For more resource on different colon cancer subjects please click this link http://www.colon-cancer-center.com. You can also find valuable information about stage3 colon cancer or even about colon cancer diet

Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/colon-cancer-and-polyps-130881.html

The prostate gland is part of the male reproductive system. Many men, especially those later in life have made the decision with their doctors to simply watch and wait. About 80 percent of men who reach the age of 80 have prostate cancer.

About one man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one man in 34 will die of the disease. Men at higher risk for prostate cancer include African-American men older than 60, farmers, tire plant workers, painters, and men exposed to cadmium. the lowest number of cases occurs in Japanese men and those who do not eat meat who reach the age of 80. The male hormone testosterone contributes to the growth of cancer.

One symptom is a need to urinate frequently, especially at night. There are several symptoms to be aware of. Most prostate cancer symptoms, although associated with prostate cancer, are more likely to be connected to non-cancerous conditions.

One prostate cancer symptom is difficulty starting urination or holding back urine. If cancer is caught at its earliest stages, most men will not experience any symptoms. One of the most common symptoms is the inability to urinate at all.

CT scans may be done to see if the cancer has spread. A urinalysis may indicate if there is blood in the urine. A chest x-ray may be done to see if there’s a spread of cancer.

A prostate biopsy usually confirms the diagnosis. What is called a free PSA may help tell the difference between BPH (benign prostatic hypertrophy), an enlargement of the prostate gland, and prostate cancer. Urine or prostatic fluid cytology may reveal unusual cells.

Impotence is a potential complication after the prostatectomy or after radiation therapy. Recent improvements in surgical procedures have made complications occur less often. Since prostate tumors require testosterone to grow, reducing the testosterone level is used to prevent further growth and spread of the cancer.

Surgery, radiation, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy all have significant side effects; know fully what they are before you proceed. The approaches to treatment include: ever watchful waiting to see whether the cancer is growing slowly and not causing any symptoms. Medicines can be used to adjust the levels of testosterone; called hormonal manipulation.

Surgery, called a radical prostatectomy, removes the entire prostate gland and some of the surrounding tissues. Whether radiation is as good as removing the prostate is debatable and the decision about which to choose, if any, can be difficult. Besides hormonal drugs, hormone manipulation may also be done by surgically removing the testes.

An oncology specialist will usually recommend treating with a single drug or a combination of drugs. Surgery, radiation therapy, and hormonal therapy can interfere with libido on a temporary or permanent basis. If chemotherapy is decided upon after the first round of chemotherapy, most men receive further doses on an outpatient basis at a clinic or physician’s office.

Radiation therapy is used primarily to treat prostate cancers classified as stages A, B, or C. Anyone considering surgery should be aware of the benefits, risks and the extent of the procedure.

The one thing that you should not do however is rely on any information obtained from the Internet to make your final decision. If you’ve already been diagnosed with prostate cancer, pick the option that’s best suited to you and your continuing good health. In the end, only you with the help of your doctors, knowing your individual situation, can determine the best treatment program for you.

Helen Hecker
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/finding-the-perfect-prostate-cancer-treatment-for-you-134729.html

With so a lot of dangers associated using smoking, especially the correlation between smoking and the development of lung cancer, it is amazing to see how a lot of citizens continue to voluntarily take section in this activity! Why is it that these mostly mature, reasonably intelligent men and women of all nationality allow such a small object to have so much control above their lives? You’d think it would be easy to only say “NO” to this tiny little death machine, but inside information it simply isn’t so.

Why? Since smoking is a habit and habits are hard to break. Interestingly even efforts to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes have failed to slow the demand. And even though they aren’t inexpensive, cigarettes are very simple to get, which makes it even harder to break this habit.

Smoking is the number one contributor to lung cancer. Besides causing lung cancer, cigarette smoking be able to cause other health-related problems including emphysema, bronchitis, and heart disease. Combine cigarette smoking using excess weight, stress, and a sedentary lifestyle, and a person who smokes literally becomes a ticking time bomb.

Here are any interesting bits of fact about smoking and lung cancer.

Some quantity of smoking be able to ultimately cause lung cancer, but how long you have been smoking, how deeply you inhale, and how a lot of cigarettes you smoke on a frequent basis every impact the development of lung cancer. It goes devoid of saying that citizens who smoke a pack or more a day and who have smoked most of their lives are significantly increasing the likelihood that lung cancer will develop.

Quitting smoking might not stop lung cancer from developing, but doing so always is highly advisable. You immediately lower your risk of developing lung cancer the moment you stop (but simply when you stop for good). The body will go into repair mode within a day or two after you stop. It’s not possible to determine whether the harm that has been done internally be able to be corrected, but stopping is worth the gamble.

Women are just because much at danger of developing lung cancer from smoking because men are, assuming equivalent smoking patterns and history. When it comes to lung cancer, men generally buy most of the notice. There are extra cases of men using smoking-related lung cancer than there are women, but don’t agree to this statistic fool you. Women are in danger too. Inside reality, extra women die each year from smoking-related lung cancer than from breast cancer.

Passive smoking can also cause lung cancer, even inside citizens who do not smoke. Passive smoking is the same as inhaling second-hand smoke. If you smoke, be considerate to others who don’t. Don’t smoke inside enclosed spaces such as homes or cars. This is especially important around small children who don’t even realize the dangers they’re being exposed to.

If a pregnant female smokes, her unborn baby smokes too!

And finally smoking is the cause of 90% of the cases of lung cancer. That alone must keep you from starting!

Technorati Tags: lung cancer, smoking