Question: What is Prostate Cancer?
Answer:
What is Prostate Cancer?
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate gland. It means that a cancerous tumor has been found in the prostate. Like most cancers, it follows a natural progression if untreated, starting with a small tumor that will grow, and ultimately spread beyond the prostate (metastasize) to cause death.
Prostate cancer tends to be a slow developing disease, giving plenty of time for treatment if caught early enough.
In its earliest stages, prostate cancer may only be suspected by an elevated PSA test. The tumor may not yet be palpable by a digital rectal exam (DRE). At this stage, not all tumors cause an elevated PSA, and do go undetected.
Also in the early stage, a prostate tumor may grow large enough to be palpable during a digital rectal exam, but not affect the PSA levels. This is why it is necessary to be screened with both the PSA test and the DRE.
What to take from this article is that annual screening with both the digital rectal exam (DRE) and the PSA test maximizes your chances of catching prostate cancer early, so it can be treated with the least amount of effect on your life.
More Prostate Cancer Q&A