The Prostate: problems and differences between cancer and disease

When we refer to prostate problems, we must know what kind of symptoms we are referring to in order to know if we should think of the prostate as the origin of the problem.

Urinary problems such as itching or frequency, appearing suddenly, may be due to prostatic infection, and therefore can be found in men of any age, from childhood, youth, adulthood or old age.

Chronic and progressive symptoms of voiding difficulty, frequency, urgency or nocturnal urination should lead us to think about prostate disease in men over 50 years of age. At younger ages, we should always think of urethral disorders as a more possible cause.

The importance of differentiating prostate disease from prostate cancer

The first thing to bear in mind is that prostate cancer, by definition, has no symptoms.

When voiding symptoms appear in men over 50 years of age, we can think of its prostatic origin, but always because of the benign growth of the gland, the so-called benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Prostate cancer should therefore be prevented, because it will not give us any warning. If we do have signs of prostate cancer, we will already be in an advanced stage, and therefore far from a curative treatment.

How to detect prostate cancer?

For the diagnosis of prostate cancer we have three instruments.

1. The first and fundamental one, for the reasons explained above, is a visit to the urologist after the age of 50. It is advisable to do so from the age of 40 if you have first-degree relatives (fathers, brothers, uncles…) affected by prostate cancer.
2. The second is a blood test to determine the PSA (prostate-specific antigen), a marker that is not only a tumor marker (it is also altered in benign prostatic processes), and which helps us to rule out the possibility of prostate cancer.
3. Thirdly, we have the digital rectal exam, a simple examination that is performed in the same consultation room, and which helps us to rule out prostate cancer, especially in cases of prostate tumors that have the particularity of not altering the PSA.

Performing this simple annual control helps us to rule out prostate cancer with a probability close to 100%.

What to do during prostate cancer treatment?

Surgical treatment (radical prostatectomy) requires three to five days of hospitalization when performed laparoscopically, the most common technique.

The return to normal activity is usually very quick, since the postoperative period is not usually complicated or painful.

Treatment with external radiotherapy is performed on an outpatient basis, in about 30 sessions of approximately 10 minutes. These sessions are usually daily, with a weekly rest day.

At the end of this month of treatment, the patient usually returns to normal activity shortly.

If the treatment is by hormone therapy, we will not be forced to interrupt our daily activity, since the treatment is ambulatory and biannual, in the form of intramuscular injection of the medication.