Prostate Cancer-Diagnosis and Prevention.pptVIP

Prostate Cancer:Diagnosis and Prevention What is the prostate? The prostate gland is found only in men; therefore, only men get prostate cancer. It is just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. The urethra, the tube that carries urine, runs through the prostate. The prostate normally starts out about the size of a walnut. By the time a man is age 40, the prostate may already have grown to the size of an apricot; by age 60, it may be as big as a lemon. Most cancers are named after the part of the body where the cancer first starts. Prostate cancer starts in the prostate gland. The Prostate Main duties of the prostate gland One of the prostates main duties is to create the seminal fluid which mixes with and carries sperm out of the penis upon ejaculation. The prostate also helps to pump the semen and sperm with sufficient power out of a mans body on its way to fertilizing a womans egg. The prostate functions as a gland and contains muscle fibers which contract and relax What is prostate cancer? Except for skin cancer, cancer of the prostate is the most common malignancy in American men. It was estimated that nearly 221,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003. In most men with prostate cancer grows very slowly. The majority of men with low-grade, early prostate cancer (confined to the gland) live a long time after their diagnosis. Even without treatment, many of these men will not die of the prostate cancer, but rather will live with it until they eventually die of some other, unrelated cause. Nevertheless, nearly 29,000 men have died of prostate cancer in 2003. Prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the number-two cancer killer in men. Unfortunately, once the cells that make up prostate cancer have grown inside the prostate for a long enough time to reach a critical mass in size and number of cells, the cancer can spread outside of the prostate gland to other parts of the body. Like boiling water in a pot