What do prostate cancer look like

This can help you prepare and plan the time you have left. There might be things you want to do or people you want to see. But some men dont want to know how long they have left. Everyone is different. You can ask your doctor how long you have left to live.

They wont be able to give you an exact answer. This can be frustrating and it may feel like your doctor is trying to avoid your questions. However, your doctor will be able to give you some idea based on where the cancer has spread to, how you are responding to treatment, how quickly the cancer has spread, and what problems it is causing. It can be helpful to talk with your family about this. You may not want to upset them but they might have similar questions and thoughts to you.

If you have months or maybe years left to live , it can be difficult for your doctor to say exactly how long you have left.

This is because they dont know how you will respond to different treatments. If your treatment stops working so well, there may be other treatments available.

Some men may not respond well to one treatment, but may respond better to another. Read more about treatments for advanced prostate cancer. Recovery from cancer is not always possible.

If the cancer cannot be cured or controlled, the disease may be called advanced or terminal. This diagnosis is stressful, and for many people, advanced cancer may be difficult to discuss.

However, it is important to have open and honest conversations with your health care team to express your feelings, preferences, and concerns. The health care team has special skills, experience, and knowledge to support patients and their families and is there to help.

Making sure a person is physically comfortable, free from pain, and emotionally supported is extremely important. People who have advanced cancer and who are expected to live less than 6 months may want to consider hospice care. Hospice care is designed to provide the best possible quality of life for people who are near the end of life. You and your family are encouraged to talk with the health care team about hospice care options, which include hospice care at home, a special hospice center, or other health care locations.

Nursing care and special equipment, including a hospital bed, can make staying at home a workable option for many families. Learn more about advanced cancer care planning. After the death of a loved one, many people need support to help them cope with the loss. Learn more about grief and loss. Learn more about caregiving. The blood test was talking about is called the PSA test, and an elevation in the PSA test does not always mean prostate cancer, but it can raise concerns and prompt us to do more testing that can determine if cancer is present.

The treatment is basically, some people say, depending on how old they are when theyre diagnosed with prostate cancer, doctors say that its slow-growing, or then theres a part of some men actually have some type of surgery. Thats great. There are various treatment options available, and it really depends on what type of cancer is present and how much the patients age is.

There are other health issues for most men. The options are surveillance, so watching the cancer and intervening if it gets more serious, surgery to remove the prostate, which can be done minimally invasively now, or radiation therapy to destroy the cancer cells with radiation.

The most important thing here is, of course, to get that screening. Hope you get the answer to the question of What does a prostate cancer look like?

Thank you. Your doctor will continue to monitor your PSA levels and may perform other tests after treatment for prostate cancer. If it recurs or spreads to other parts of the body, additional treatment may be recommended. Lifestyle choices may matter, too. One study found that prostate cancer survivors who exercised regularly had a lower risk of dying, for example.

The prostate is not essential for life, but it is important for reproduction. Healthy semen is the perfect consistency and environment for sperm transit and survival, and for fertilization. Semen includes enzymes like PSA , as well as other substances made by the seminal vesicles and prostate, such as zinc, citrate, and fructose.

Semen also contains substances that may protect the urinary tract and sperm from bacteria and other pathogens. The prostate typically grows during adolescence, under the control of the male hormone testosterone and its byproduct dihydrotestosterone. Testosterone is primarily made in the testes, but a smaller amount it is also made in the adrenal glands above the kidneys.

The prostate can grow larger as men age, sometimes pressing on the bladder or urethra and causing symptoms similar to prostate cancer. This is called benign prostatic hyperplasia. The use of bisphosphonate drugs to prevent or slow the growth of bone metastases is being studied in clinical trials.

Prostate cancer that has spread to the bone and certain types of hormone therapy can weaken bones and lead to bone pain. Treatments for bone pain include the following:. See the PDQ summary on Pain for more information. This summary section describes treatments that are being studied in clinical trials. It may not mention every new treatment being studied.

Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI website. Cryosurgery is a treatment that uses an instrument to freeze and destroy prostate cancer cells. Ultrasound is used to find the area that will be treated. This type of treatment is also called cryotherapy. Cryosurgery can cause impotence and leakage of urine from the bladder or stool from the rectum.

High-intensity—focused ultrasound therapy is a treatment that uses ultrasound high-energy sound waves to destroy cancer cells. To treat prostate cancer, an endorectal probe is used to make the sound waves. Proton beam radiation therapy is a type of high-energy, external radiation therapy that uses streams of protons tiny particles with a positive charge to kill tumor cells.

This type of treatment can lower the amount of radiation damage to healthy tissue near a tumor. A cancer treatment that uses a drug and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer cells.

A drug that is not active until it is exposed to light is injected into a vein. The drug collects more in cancer cells than in normal cells. Fiberoptic tubes are then used to carry the laser light to the cancer cells, where the drug becomes active and kills the cells. Photodynamic therapy causes little damage to healthy tissue. It is used mainly to treat tumors on or just under the skin or in the lining of internal organs.

For information about side effects caused by treatment for cancer, see our Side Effects page. For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.

Many of today's standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment. Patients who take part in clinical trials also help improve the way cancer will be treated in the future. Even when clinical trials do not lead to effective new treatments, they often answer important questions and help move research forward.

Some clinical trials only include patients who have not yet received treatment. Other trials test treatments for patients whose cancer has not gotten better. There are also clinical trials that test new ways to stop cancer from recurring coming back or reduce the side effects of cancer treatment.

Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. Clinical trials supported by other organizations can be found on the ClinicalTrials. Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may be repeated.

Some tests will be repeated in order to see how well the treatment is working. Decisions about whether to continue, change, or stop treatment may be based on the results of these tests. Some of the tests will continue to be done from time to time after treatment has ended. The results of these tests can show if your condition has changed or if the cancer has recurred come back.

These tests are sometimes called follow-up tests or check-ups. For information about the treatments listed below, see the Treatment Option Overview section. Standard treatment of stage I prostate cancer may include the following:. Use our clinical trial search to find NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are accepting patients.

You can search for trials based on the type of cancer, the age of the patient, and where the trials are being done. General information about clinical trials is also available. Standard treatment of stage II prostate cancer may include the following:. Standard treatment of stage III prostate cancer may include the following:.

Treatment to control cancer that is in the prostate and lessen urinary symptoms may include the following:. Standard treatment of stage IV prostate cancer may include the following:. Standard treatment of recurrent or hormone-resistant prostate cancer may include the following:. For more information from the National Cancer Institute about prostate cancer, see the following:. For general cancer information and other resources from the National Cancer Institute, see the following:.

The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions have detailed information written in technical language.

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Knowing what causes these cancers will hopefully lead to new treatments and preventive measures that will improve outcomes. The most common cause of death from this condition is not cancer itself but cancer recurrence in other parts of the body due to metastasis.

However, there are many cases where early detection can help reduce this risk and keep the disease from spreading. The earlier treatment is administered for prostate cancers; the better off patients will often fare over time with their treatments. When you have a family history of prostate cancer, you will be screened more often and with different types of screenings.

Genetic testing can be used to see if you have the gene mutation that puts you at an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Being diagnosed with any cancer is hard enough, but it can be even more challenging when you have a loved one who is diagnosed and needs your support.

Often there are feelings of shame or embarrassment that may come up because the person has prostate cancer. Whether you want to give them moral support by being physically present for appointments or if you need someone to talk with about how difficult this period was — encourage them to reach out!

The truth is that prostate cancer can be a serious disease. If someone in your life has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, remember that they need support during their treatment process, just like any other person going through difficult times. Many organizations provide resources on how to help loved ones with health issues, including prostate cancer. Keep an eye out for these groups and think about signing up or donating, so others will have access to helpful information when they need it most too.

Prevent you or your loved one from this terrible disease. This curse motivated me to study weight loss and nutrition. I want to share my experiences and knowledge to help you achieve your ideal body.