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Prostate cancer
Is prostate cancer prone to metastasis?
Bone metastasis in prostate cancer is very common clinically, and most prostate cancer patients are often diagnosed with multiple bone metastases, making bone metastasis very likely in prostate cancer. However, metastasis to other organs, such as distant organs like the lungs and liver, can also occur, but they are relatively rare. It is usually patients with very advanced prostate cancer who might experience metastases to other distant organs. Additionally, it is common for there to be local spread and invasion in the pelvic area, such as invasion into pelvic organs like the bladder and rectum.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Patients with early-stage prostate cancer do not exhibit obvious clinical symptoms. In the advanced stage of the disease, symptoms such as obstruction of the bladder outlet or the ureters can occur, manifesting as difficulty urinating, poor urine flow, frequent urination, hematuria, or purulent urine. Additionally, most prostate cancer patients are prone to multiple bone metastases, which cause pain at the sites of metastasis. This is also a common clinical symptom.
How to Test for Prostate Cancer
For the examination of prostate cancer, the first and very important method is the digital rectal examination, which can also serve as a screening method for prostate cancer. If a prostate lump is detected through digital rectal examination, it is necessary to perform a biopsy via transrectal or perineal puncture, as the puncture biopsy is considered the gold standard for confirming prostate cancer. Clinically, the tumor marker PSA for prostate cancer is also combined, which has great clinical significance as it is the most specific and sensitive tumor marker for prostate cancer. Therefore, prostate cancer can be diagnosed by combining the PSA test with digital rectal examination and puncture biopsy.
What are the late-stage symptoms of prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer is a common malignant tumor in the urinary system. The late-stage symptoms of prostate cancer include the following aspects: Many patients experience urinary symptoms such as frequent urination, urgent urination, and painful urination due to tumor obstruction. Additionally, some patients experience slow urination, difficulty urinating, and even severe urinary retention. A few patients may have painless or painful hematuria. Some patients, due to tumor compression or invasion, experience enlargement and pain of the inguinal lymph nodes, as well as swelling of the lower limbs. Some patients develop bone metastases, clinically manifesting as pain, reduced sensation, or paralysis. Some patients with prostate cancer develop pulmonary metastases, leading to clinical respiratory symptoms such as cough, chest tightness, breathlessness, and difficulty breathing.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Patients with prostate cancer exhibit some signs before the onset of the disease. Patients may experience an increase in urination frequency, urgency, and pain similar to the clinical manifestations of urethritis, and some patients may present with hematuria. Moreover, prostate cancer will exhibit hyperplasia and enlargement as well as abnormal urine retention. As the disease progresses, prostate cancer lesions will spread to surrounding areas, presenting clinical symptoms such as pain, bleeding, or difficulty urinating. Clinically, some laboratory and imaging tests will reveal significantly elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen and prostate ultrasound, among other tests, might show abnormal nodular lesions.
Can prostate cancer be contagious?
Prostate cancer is non-contagious; it is a non-infectious malignant tumor, and it generally does not transmit to others, meaning there is no risk of contagion. Thus, when caring for patients with malignant tumors, including those with prostate cancer, there is no need to worry about contagion. Clinically, many family members also inquire about this issue, concerned about the possibility of infection. Malignant tumors are non-infectious. Infectious diseases refer to conditions such as chronic hepatitis B and tuberculosis, among other contagious diseases. Malignant tumors are not contagious.
Will prostate cancer cause an increase in CA199 levels?
In most cases, patients with prostate cancer do not experience an increase in the C199 marker. This is because, although C199 is a tumor marker, its elevation is mainly seen in the following tumors: pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, and ovarian epithelial cancer in women. In patients with large amounts of ascites, this marker may also show a mild increase. For patients with prostate cancer, the important abnormal indicator is PSA, also known as Prostate-Specific Antigen, a tumor marker. This marker is often seen to be abnormally high. Even if the PSA level in prostate cancer patients is not high, the ratio of free PSA to total PSA often shows abnormalities. These indicator abnormalities are mainly helpful for the auxiliary diagnosis of prostate cancer, monitoring of the condition, and support in anti-tumor treatment.
Is there a treatment for prostate cancer?
The treatment methods for prostate cancer include surgery, radical surgery, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, and chemotherapy. The choice of treatment is related to the stage of the cancer, as different stages require different treatment plans. Early-stage prostate cancer patients can choose radical surgery or radical radiotherapy. For patients with advanced prostate cancer, the first choice of treatment is endocrine therapy, and chemotherapy can be used after endocrine therapy fails, or some palliative radiotherapy, etc., depending on the specific situation.
Can prostate cancer be detected by color ultrasound?
Ultrasound is also a method for screening prostate cancer, but it is generally combined with Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) for a comprehensive consideration in prostate cancer screening. If prostate nodules are found during a prostate color Doppler ultrasound, the differentiation between prostate cancer and benign prostatic nodules can be aided by the variations in internal echoes, but this is only a reference and cannot be 100% certain. Thus, in clinical practice, it is also combined with PSA for a comprehensive evaluation. Generally, a PSA greater than 10 suggests a higher likelihood of malignancy. The diagnosis of prostate cancer requires a biopsy to confirm the pathology.
Is prostate cancer radiotherapy painful?
Prostate cancer radiotherapy involves high doses of radiation, which typically results in related side effects. However, the severity of these side effects varies from patient to patient depending on individual factors such as their physical constitution. Therefore, clinically, some patients may experience severe symptoms, while others may have milder symptoms, indicating significant individual differences. Common side effects of radiotherapy include radiation cystitis, characterized by frequent urination, urgency, and possibly hematuria. Radiation proctitis is also common, presenting symptoms such as a sensation of heaviness around the anus and diarrhea. Additionally, bone marrow suppression, manifesting as a decrease in white blood cells and platelets, is another side effect.