A brief knowledge about Prostrate Cancer!
What is prostate?
Prostrate is a small walnut shaped gland but the problem associated with it by no means a small one. With the increase of age in men the shape of the prostate gland also increases. It starts increasing in size from the age of thirty-five and continues to increase till the age of fifty years. This is called Benign Pro static Hyperplasia or BHP in short. The growth in size of prostate gland is not an abnormal one but then there is always the fear of cancer related with it.
As a sexual gland prostate gland is involved with the production of males pro static fluid. During sexual activities the sperm passes through seminal vascular with the help of prostate gland and reaches the urinal pipe. It is located in the pelvic area in front of the rectum. This gland is present only in the males and is a part of reproductive system.
Causes of prostate.
Though the actual causes of prostate enlargement is not known till today but it is believed that it is very much related with ageing and testicles results in enlargement of the gland. It is worthwhile to mention here that men who remove their testicles at young ages don't develop BHP.
When can we face Prostate problem?
It is not always necessary that the problems related to prostate gland will always arise after the age of fifty. There are many medical cases which proves the basic fact that it could happen or occur between the ages of twenty and forty. But it is also to be noted here that if the problem with prostate arises at younger ages, it should not be taken as something very serious. It is a normal problem and one should not get panic and too much serious about it. But yes, the cure process naturally takes certain amount of time.
Symptoms
Some of the symptoms that are related with the disease include inflammation during the process of urination, pain during the time of urination, bloody urine and urination occurs more than three to four times during the night. It is also accompanied with fever and pain. Since these symptoms matches with other diseases, it becomes hard to detect the prostate disease among the aged groups.
Cure
With the help and application of anti-biotics this disease is cured. A type of medicine named Alpha1-blockers are used for the treatment of the disease. It helps in the shrinkage of the enlarged gland. With the help of this medicine within two to three weeks condition of a patient seems to be much improved and the patient seems to be much relaxed. These medications frees or relaxes the muscles of the prostate and allows easier urination.
Time required for treatment
For treatment of prostate disease, urine culture test is required to be done a number of times to understand the severity of the disease. Moreover, to cure the disease permanently a number of months are required. In case of ordinary diseases, the mere uses of antibiotics for seven to ten days is enough to cure the disease but in case of prostates the treatment process ranges from one months to a few months with the usage of antibiotics. This process of treatment is also known as Prophylactic antibiotic therapy in medical terms.
Expansion of Prostate
The expansion of prostate gland in human body occurs at a very slow or moderate rate and hence patients hardly realize anything about it. When the gland expands and increases in size it creates a sort of pressure on the urine pipe and hence problem arises in the urination process. Some of the problems are like--
## The patient need to go to the toilet a number of times within a short span of time.
## The patient gets awake from sleep on numerous occasions during the night and have to leave the bed several times.
## The patient cannot control the pressure of urine and has to rush to the toilet at once.
## During urination discharge the flow of urine decreases and again increases and this process continues for sometime.
## Discharge of urine takes place slowly and very often than not one has to wait for it before it finally starts.
Retention of urine
When the prostate gland obstructs the flow of urine then urination becomes a difficult task for a patient and very often the urine gland also closes. This process medically termed as retention of urine. When the urine pipe gets closed this really creates problems for the patient and sometimes patient needs to be hospitalised for the same. In hospitals catheter ( narrow tube ) is used to extract the urine from the patients body. In our country people fears about any kinds of transplants and therefore they prefer to use catheter throughout their lives. Medically within a week of using the catheter a permanent method of remedy is must for the patient. Therefore, through prostate surgery this is permanently controlled and hence it is recommended for all.
Increase in Prostate Cancer
So far we have discussed about the expansion or increase in size of the prostate gland which I wanted to share with you. Now it is normal a question may arise in your mind that how to understand if the prostate gland is related with cancer or not? I would like to remind you about the fact that this disease is increasing at a very rapid rate among the masses. If you ask why this disease is on the rise? Well medically there is no answer for it. In India the males who are affected with prostate cancer are huge in number but the good news is that the death ratio associated with this disease for males is very less. You might even be glad to know that prostate cancer occurs in an individual at a very slow rate. If this disease is detected in an individual at an early or later stage, it is very much curable. So be careful friends, if this disease is detected take the pain to get cured for a better tomorrow.
Prostate Health Check-up
Some of the doctors and medical specialists are of the opinion that if the test named Prostate Cancer Screening starts then it will surely help in early detection of the disease and thereby it will help in curing the disease at an early stage to the millions of people who are affected with the disease. According to their valuable opinion person who are above the age of fifty years should go for the screening test. Today, in any developed country there should be the provision of such tests and there should be enough awareness programs to make the people aware of this disease. Two things should be kept in mind in case of prostate disease. Firstly, one needs to find out if the problem has developed due to the increase of the prostate gland and secondly, if this disease is related with the deadly disease cancer. It is worthwhile to mention here that in countries like America Prostate Cancer Surgery process has started. It is unfortunate that in our country, India, no such test has been started so far.
Take the self initiative
I think those of us who are above the age of fifty should take the self initiative of prostate check-up. If someone needs to find out if he has the prostate cancer problem or not then he should take the initiative of for a check-up. The check-up will clarify the fact if he has the prostate cancer or not.
For prostate health check-up the tests that are required to be done are blood tests, urine tests and uroflowmetry tests. To understand the functioning of kidney, blood and urine tests are done. The flow of urine and the time taken to discharge the same are done with a special instrument called Uroflowmeter. This is a very simple instrument and it is very useful in determining wheat her there is any obstruction in the discharge of urine. The data we get from Uroflowmeter is called Uroflowmetry.
PSA Test
Along with the prostate health check-up screening for cancer is also required and it is done through PSA ( Prostate Specific Antigen ). To detect Prostate Cancer at an early stage this blood test is a must. This test is known as PSA test. This test was first done in America in 1986.
What is PSA?
It is a protein that is manufactured only by the prostate gland. It is produced for the ejaculation of the sperm cells freely. When a doctor asks for a PSA test to be done, he wants to find out the amount of composition of PSA in our blood. It is important to know that in severe cases of prostate, composition of PSA in blood is more. Therefore, when our age increases and along with it the PSA in our blood also increases.
PSA and some other diseases
Apart from prostate, there are some other diseases also in which the level of PSA increases in our blood. In such cases, the test shows high percentages of PSA in our blood. Cases like getting affected by prostate, transplantation, cystoscopy test and wearing of catheters increases the PSA level in our blood. Since Prostate is very much related with increase in age, therefore, PSA is found more in the blood of the aged groups.
Know about PSA test
It is very hard to say whether PSA test is the most desirable one in prostate cancer screening because prostate affected individuals PSA and BHP hardly differs to a large extent. But in other developing countries PSA test is a must and very famous among the masses. People living there do this PSA test once in a year for sure. In our country, people don't give it much importance due to the fact that this cancer disease effect us slightly in the initially stages. Now, it is clear to us that in our blood there are two types of PSA's. In case of BHP, the percentage of PSA increases.
What can we do?
Many of us has got the notion that there is no requirement of doing PSA test and therefore in our country Prostate Screening is very much avoided by the people in general. I could personally suggest you if you are in a dilemma about whether to do a PSA test or not that leave the matter in the hands of your doctors but at the same time I would rather suggest you to go for an annual check-up of your prostate health. The disease which can be cured easily should not be left as it is otherwise we have to pay a heavy price for it at the cost of our health in future.
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