Diagnosing Prostate Cancer

During the year 2007, there will be 218,890 new cases of Prostate cancer diagnosed in the United States. This is quite a large number, however, Prostate cancer is being diagnosed earlier and treated earlier and more effectively now than in previous years. If you have discovered that you may have signs or symptoms of Prostate cancer, see your doctor immediately.

When you go in to see your doctor, and explain to him what kind of symptoms you are having, he may check for other kinds of conditions as well. Some of the symptoms of Prostate cancer are also signs or symptoms of an infection or enlarged prostate. If these things are not found, or if an early detection test has come back with suspicious results, your doctor may decide to do a Biopsy.

When your doctor does a biopsy, he removes a sample of tissue from your body, and then examines it under a microscope to detect cancerous cells. This is how a biopsy is done. First, the doctor will feel to see if there are any lumps or hard spots in your prostate. He is able do this by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum. Because of where the prostate lies, he can easily feel if there are any abnormalities in this way.

To get the tissue needed for the biopsy, the doctor will insert a hollow needle through the wall of the rectum and into the prostate. When the needle is removed, it contains a strip of tissue which will be examined. The doctor will need to repeat this process about 12 times in order to get enough samples to determine if there are cancerous cells present. Although this description of the biopsy may make some men a bit squeamish, the biopsy is performed with a special spring loaded device which works very quickly, so there is minimal pain or discomfort. Most doctors will also use a numbing anesthetic before performing the test.

The results will usually take around 2 to 3 days to return, and if there are cancerous cells present, the pathologist will have assigned them a grade. What this grade means is the level of advancement of the cancerous cells. Pathologists use a grading system called the Gleason system. It goes from 1 to 5 depending upon how normal the cells look, or how abnormal. Of course, the lowest grade is closer to looking like a normal prostate cell. The higher the number is when everything has been calculated in, the more likely your cancer is to grow and spread rapidly.

There are other elements which factor into the grade as well, such as the amount of samples taken which contained cancerous cells, how much cancer was contained in the sample, and whether the cancer is targeted in one specific area of the prostate. The next step your doctor will take is to tell you about treatment options. Early treatment is the best way to ensure that you have a longer life, and live it happily.