PROSTATE CANCER

The prostate, found only in men, is a walnut-sized gland located in front of the rectum and underneath the urinary bladder. It contains gland cells that produce some of the seminal fluid, which protects and nourishes sperm cells in semen.
Just behind the prostate gland are the seminal vesicles that produce most of the fluid for semen. The prostate surrounds the first part of the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder and semen out of the body through the penis.
Male hormones stimulate the prostate gland to develop in the fetus. Male hormones are also called androgens.
The most common androgen is testosterone. The prostate continues to grow as a man reaches adulthood and is maintained after it reaches normal size as long as male hormones are produced. If male hormone levels are low, the prostate gland will not fully develop.
In older men, the part of the prostate around the urethra often continues to grow, a condition called benign prostatic hypertrophy or benign prostatic hyperplasia. This can cause problems with urinating.

Although several cell types are found in the prostate, over 99% of prostate cancers develop from the glandular cells.
Glandular cells make the seminal fluid that is secreted by the prostate. The medical term for a cancer that starts in glandular cells is adenocarcinoma.

Because other types of prostate cancer are so rare, if you have prostate cancer, it is almost certain to be an adenocarcinoma. The rest of this document refers only to prostate adenocarcinoma. Most prostate cancers grow slowly.
Autopsy studies show that many older men who died of other diseases also had a prostate cancer that never affected them and that neither they nor their doctor were aware of.
Over 60% of men between ages 60 and 70 will have prostate cancer detected at autopsy.
That number climbs to 80% for men in their 70s. Some prostate cancers, however, can grow and spread quickly. Some doctors believe that prostate cancer begins with a condition called prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). PIN begins to appear in men in their 20s.

Almost 50% of men have PIN by the time they reach 50.
In this condition there are changes in the microscopic appearance (size, shape, etc.) of prostate gland cells. These changes are classified as either low-grade, meaning they appear almost normal or high-grade, meaning they look abnormal.

If you have had high-grade PIN diagnosed on a prostate biopsy, there is a 30% to 50% chance that cancer is also present within your prostate.
For this reason, men diagnosed with high-grade PIN are watched carefully and have repeat prostate biopsies.

If you have any questions or comments, we will be happy to hear from you. you can