United States: Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent kinds of cancer in men and, as of cause of death, it positions second only to lung cancer. For instance, based on the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer sometime in their lifetime.
Despite these pretty terrible numbers, the health experts have news that is somewhat cheerful.
More about the new finding
According to Dr. Ramkishen Narayanan, MD, a board-certified urologist and urologic oncologist and Director of the Center for Urologic Health at The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, “It is a completely curable disease if detected early, such as while the cancer is still localized to the prostate and has not spread,” as aol.com reported.
However, the ACS says the five-year survival rate of local and regionalized prostate cancer is about 99 percent. The knowledge of your risk and the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer are crucial for the survival of any man.
Nevertheless, cancer still has a stigma, which can be attributed to the failure of earlier movements promoting female cancer awareness.
Narayanan added, “Because the prostate is in a sensitive area involving urination and sexual function, men tend to avoid talking about their diagnosis,” as aol.com reported.
“Fortunately, we are gradually seeing a shift in men more openly communicating with their friends and the public about prostate cancer,” said Narayanan.
Unexpected symptoms of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer can cause bone pain, which is among the signs of this illness. However, probably this kind of pain is related to metastatic castration, which means that prostate cancer patients who suffer from this are likely to have the spread of the disease.
According to Dr. Daniel Phillips, MD, a urologist with Memorial Hermann
“The bones of the pelvis and the spine are common first areas of metastasis for prostate cancer,” and “Pain in these regions may be evidence of a possible prostate cancer in these locations.”
According to Dr. Narayanan, it is also possible that bone pain is a sign of recurrence of the disease in patients who have been diagnosed with it earlier. Now, one might not immediately associate prostate cancer with bone pain as a symptom. However, urologists have explanations.
Dr. Narayanan explained, “When prostate cancer cells try to metastasize, [which means cancer] spread outside of the organ, they first try to get to the lymph nodes near the prostate, called the pelvic lymph nodes, and second most commonly, the bone,” as aol.com reported.
Moreover, according to, Dr. Vishnukamal Golla, MD, the medical director for value transformation at Evolent there are some patients who might never experience such symptoms. Here the bone pain might signal something else.