Prostate Cancer Health Article

Watchful waiting

Watchful waiting means that no immediate treatment is recommended, but physicians keep the man suspected of having prostate cancer under careful observation. This option is generally used among older men when the tumor is not very aggressive and they have other, more life-threatening illnesses. Prostate cancer in older men tends to be slow-growing. Therefore, the risk of a man dying from prostate cancer, rather than from other causes, is relatively small.

Prognosis

According to the American Cancer Society, the survival rate for all stages of prostate cancer combined has increased from 50% to 87% over the last 30 years. Due to early detection and better screening methods, nearly 60% of the tumors are diagnosed while they are still confined to the prostate gland. The five-year survival rate for early-stage cancers is almost 99%. Sixty-three percent of the men survive after 10 years, and 51% survive 15 years after initial diagnosis. Studies on the prognosis of hereditary prostate cancer are ongoing.

Health care team roles

A family physician or internist often makes an initial diagnosis of prostate cancer. A urologist often confirms the diagnosis and supervises treatment. A cancer oncologist may administer radiation or chemotherapy treatments. A surgeon may excise a tumor of the prostate. Nurses provide care throughout hospitalization. Nurses also provide education to the patient and family according to the physician's orders, as well as home care.

Prevention

There is no known way to prevent prostate cancer. Some experts feel that dietary modifications may delay the onset of prostate cancer. This view is not universally shared.

KEY TERMS

Anti-androgen drugs—Drugs that block the activity of male hormones.

Benign—A term for a tumor that does not metastasize and is not life-threatening.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)—A non-cancerous condition of the prostate that causes growth of prostatatic tissue, thus enlarging the prostate and blocking urination.

Biopsy—The surgical removal and microscopic examination of living tissue for diagnostic purposes.

Chemotherapy—Treatment of the cancer with synthetic drugs that destroy the tumor either by inhibiting the growth of the cancerous cells or by killing the cancer cells.

Estrogen—A female sex hormone.

Hematuria—Blood in the urine.

Hormone therapy—A treatment for prostate cancer that involves reducing the levels of the male hormone testosterone so that the growth of the prostate cancer cells is inhibited.

Lymph nodes—Small, bean-shaped structures that are scattered along the lymphatic vessels. These nodes serve as filters and retain any bacteria or cancer cells that are traveling through the system.

Malignant—A tumor that is capable of spreading to other organs and poses a serious threat to a person's life.

Metastasis—The spreading of cancer from the original site to other locations in the body.

Prostatectomy—The surgical removal of the prostate gland.

Radiation therapy—Treatment using high-energy radiation from x-ray machines, cobalt, radium, or other sources.

Rectum—The last 5-6 inches of the large intestine that leads to the anus.

Semen—A whitish, opaque fluid released at ejaculation.

Seminal vesicles—Tubes above the prostate that make seminal fluid.

Testicles—Two egg-shaped glands that produce male sperm and sex hormones.

Testosterone—A male sex hormone produced mainly by the testicles.

Transrectal ultrasound—A procedure in which a probe is placed in the rectum. High-frequency sound waves that cannot be heard by humans are sent out from the probe and reflected by the prostate. These sound waves produce a pattern of echoes that are then used by the computer to create sonograms or pictures of areas inside the body.

BOOKS

Arnot, Bob. The Prostate Cancer Protection Plan: The Foods, Supplements, and Drugs that Can Combat Prostate Cancer. New York: Little Brown, 2001.

Barrett, David M. Mayo Clinic on Prostate Health. New York: Kensington Pub. Corp, 2000.

Moyad, Mark A., and Kenneth J. Pienta, The ABC's of Advanced Prostate Cancer. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2000.

Partin, Alan W. "Diseases of the prostate." In Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 21st ed. edited by Lee Goldman, and J. Claude Bennet. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 2000, 635-640.

Rous, Stephen N. The Prostate Book: Sound Advice on Symptoms and Treatment. New York: Norton, 2001.

Sagalowsky, Arthur I., and Jean D. Wilson, "Hyperplasia and carcinoma of the prostate." In Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 14th ed. edited by Anthony S. Fauci, et al. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998, 596-602.

Sanders, B., and M.K. Brawer, The Prostate Diet Cookbook: Cancer-Fighting Foods for a Healthy Prostate. Gig Harbor, WA: Harbor Press, 2001.

Tompson, Ian M., Martin I. Resnick, and Eric A. Klein, Prostate Cancer Screening. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2001.