A 'TUMOUR' pronounced (2-more) is basically a lump of cells that could be made up of fluid or it could be solid. Some tumours stay in one place and grow and others like to spread to other places.
Benign tumours (non-cancerous lumps) and malignant tumors (cancerous lumps) behave differently.
Benign tumours rarely spread and generally respond well to treatment. If not properly managed however, they can cause you more serious problems.
BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia) is non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland. It is however possible for you to have BPH and Prostate Cancer at the same time. This is why doctors send prostate tissue samples to be checked for cancer if you have a TURP (explained in a previous article) for BPH.
Malignant tumours, unlike benign tumors like to spread to other areas and they resist treatment. Malignant prostate cancer can sometimes grow big enough that it starts blocking your urinary stream giving you symptoms similar to BPH. This is why the IPSS is so useful when checking for BPH and Prostate Cancer.
PSA stands for 'Prostate Specific Antigen', it is a substance made by a man's prostate gland (only found in men) and its job is to liquefy semen after ejaculation. Scientists discovered some time ago that high PSA blood levels are found in men with prostate cancer.
The PSA test that doctors usually ask you to have is called 'TOTAL' PSA and for a long time, a result of 4ng/ml was used as a cut off (maximum allowed amount) before doctors would go looking for prostate cancer. Today doctors know there is no normal TOTAL PSA result and they are even questioning the value of using any single TOTAL PSA result as well as a cut-off of 4ng/ml in determining whether a man may or may not have prostate cancer. There are many other reasons why a TOTAL PSA result could be high that are not necessarily related to prostate cancer. Some are:
An infection of your urinary tract Prostatitis (inflammation or infection of the prostate gland) BPH Having your blood sample taken within 72 hours of having sexual intercourse
We now know many men could have prostate cancers that may never cause them a problem in their lifetime. Yes, prostate cancers generally grow slowly and it is felt that most men will die with prostate cancer rather than from prostate cancer.
Today, doctors are interested in finding the deadly kinds of prostate cancer and one way in doing so that is gaining popularity is the use of Nomograms (pronounced 'no-mo-grams'). A nomogram is a scientific formula that considers more information about how prostate cancer behaves to help you figure out what your risk is for getting the deadly kind of prostate cancer. The' Sunnybrook Prostate Risk Calculator' for example is one nomogram that considers the following information:
Your Age If you have a Family History of Prostate Cancer Your Race Your IPSS result (discussed in previous article) Your Total PSA result Your Free to Total PSA result(men with prostate cancer generally have a result of .10/less) Results of a DRE
Your doctor will discuss the result with you. The decision will be either to keep an eye on things and repeat the risk assessment in 6 to 12 months or for you to have a prostate biopsy (samples taken from your prostate gland to check for cancer).
For more information on Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment please go to the Helpatrini blog or send a blank e-mail to myrisk@brachy4u.ca
