Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer occurs when cells in the prostate gland change and start to grow quickly. These cancer cells can affect how the prostate works normally and after a long period of time they may spread to other organs of the body.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in men.
Prostate cancer is more common in older men. In many cases these cancer cells do not grow very quickly and do not cause any problems or symptoms for many years. In older men, small areas of cancer cells within the prostate gland are common.
In older men, prostate cancer cells can grow more quickly and spread to other parts of the body, requiring treatment to manage and prevent the spread of the disease.
Cancers that are found within the prostate gland only are known as early prostate cancer. Men with early prostate cancer are unlikely to have any symptoms at all. Prostate cancers usually only cause symptoms when they are large enough to disturb your bladder or press on the tube that drains urine. For that reason, the symptoms of prostate cancer, when they appear, are like the symptoms of an enlarged prostate BPH (click to read more).
In Ireland, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, after skin cancer. Each year about 2500 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed. This means that 1 in 12 Irishmen will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. Although there are many men with this disease, most men do not die from it.
The cause of prostate cancer is unknown at present. But there are things called risk factors that can increase your chance of getting the disease.
These include:
- Age: Your risk increases as you get older. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer are aged over 50.
- Family history: Men whose brother or father developed prostate cancer at a young age have an increased risk.
- Diet: Men who eat a lot of red meat and high-fat dairy products and not enough green vegetables have a slightly higher chance of getting prostate cancer.
- Weight: Obesity or being overweight is a risk factor for a number of cancers
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