The clinical problems of the prostate defy easy answers: Why, for instance, do some men live for nearly a century without suffering from an enlarged prostate, while others, from middle age onward, need to be treated more than once Why do some men die with prostate cancer and other men die of itwhile others never get the disease What causes the sudden swelling of the prostate, often accompanied by crippling back pain, known as prostatitis
Prostate disorders range in degree of unpleasantness from irritating to devastating. The good news of this book is that effective treatmentand most importantly, relief of symptomsis available for all the “big three” prostate disorders: prostate cancer; benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH (commonly known as enlarged prostate); and prostatitis. It’s especially good to know that prostate cancer, when caught early, is curable. And, when detected early, prostate disorders can generally be treated without causing loss of urinary control or sexual function.
Few men who live a normal life spanabout 74 yearswill depart this earth unscathed by some sort of prostate ailment, ranging from painful inflammation to benign enlargement to cancer. And it’s important to note that prostate disease is not an either-or situation. Having BPH, for example, does not mean that a man has “had his prostate trouble” and therefore won’t also develop cancer. Nor does surgery or other treatment for BPH or prostatitis eliminate the risk of getting prostate cancer.
What this means is that after age 50, and for the rest of their lives, men need a yearly prostate check-up. This involves a digital rectal examinationwhen a doctor’s gloved finger is inserted in the rectum to feel for a knot or lump, swelling, or anything else out of the ordinaryand something called a PSA test, a highly sensitive blood test that catches trace amounts of a protein called prostate-specific antigen. Yearly PSA tests give your doctor a continuum, a baseline reading: Any change in the PSA level means something needs to be checked out. PSA, normally secreted and disposed of by the prostate, shows up in the bloodstream in cancer and in the bothersome but generally harmless condition called BPH. (It can also be elevated briefly after an episode of prostatitis.) For thousands of men, the PSA test is boosting considerably the odds of early diagnosis for prostate cancer and BPH.
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