Learn more about the symptoms to watch out for, screening recommendations, causes, and survival rates.
Unfortunately, there usually aren’t any early warning signs for prostate cancer. The growing tumor does not push against anything to cause pain, so for many years the disease may be silent. That’s why screening for prostate cancer is such an important topic for all men and their families.
When your doctor suspects you may have prostate cancer, what comes next is a careful series of tests and examinations that will confirm the diagnosis and assess the extent of the disease. Most prostate cancer cases are highly treatable, but first, your care team needs to know exactly what you’re dealing with.
Learn more and watch the video overview
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, your mind might be racing, trying to figure out what happened. What went wrong? What could we have done differently so that this wouldn’t happen? The answer is simple, but unsatisfying: doctors and researchers really don’t know—yet.
There are three well-established risk factors for prostate cancer diagnosis: Black race, family history of prostate cancer, and increasing age. (Learn more about risk factors for prostate cancer.) Additional factors, like smoking and obesity, are linked to aggressive prostate cancer and worse outcomes once a man is diagnosed.
One of the biggest apparent underlying factors is one we have little control over: our genes. Learn More and watch the video overview.
As indicated by the rates of diagnosis, age is the biggest—but not the only—risk factor for prostate cancer. Other important factors include:
Genes for disease can run in families. Men who have a relative with prostate cancer may be twice as likely to develop the disease, while those with 2 or more relatives are nearly 4 times as likely to be diagnosed. The risk is even higher if the affected family members were diagnosed before age 65.
As we begin to unlock the genetic underpinnings of cancer, we realize more and more that men may also be at increased risk of prostate cancer if they have a strong family history of other cancers, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, or pancreatic cancer.
Because family members share many genes, there may be multiple genetic factors that contribute to the overall risk of prostate cancer in a family. However, there are also some individual gene changes (mutations) that we now know increase the risk of prostate cancer, and men with these mutations may need to be screened differently or consider changes in treatment.
Scientists don’t yet know why, but men of African descent are about 75% more likely to develop prostate cancer compared with white men, and about two times more likely to die from the disease. Learn More.
Sexual Activity: High levels of sexual activity or frequent ejaculation have been rumored to increase prostate cancer risk. This is untrue. In fact, studies show that men who report more frequent ejaculations may have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer.
Vasectomy: Having a vasectomy was originally thought to increase a man’s risk, but this has since been disproven.
Medications: Several recent studies have shown a link between aspirin intake and a reduced risk of prostate cancer by 10-15%. This may result from different screening practices, through a reduction of inflammation, or other unknown factors.
Statin use: The class of drugs called statins – known to lower cholesterol – has also recently been linked to a reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer in some studies.
Alcohol: There is no known direct link between alcohol and prostate cancer risk.
Vitamin E: Recent studies have not shown a benefit in consumption of vitamin E or selenium (in the formulations studied) in the prevention of prostate cancer.
(Some of the information on this page is adapted from Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer.)
Because the prostate is close to several vital structures, prostate cancer and its treatments can disrupt normal urinary, bowel, and sexual functioning. This section discusses side effects that might be experienced as well as advice on managing those side effects.
Early management of side effects has been shown to help patients live longer, better lives.
It is very important that you communicate with your doctors about the side effects that you are experiencing as you undergo treatment. Ongoing and proactive communication will enable your doctor to manage your side effects as early as possible to prevent worsening or development of downstream complications.
The ultimate goal is to prevent men from developing prostate cancer. Although significant progress has been made and genetic and environmental risk factors for prostate cancer have been identified, the evidence is not strong enough for conclusive recommendations on prostate cancer prevention overall.
However, diet and lifestyle modifications have been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression, and can help men with prostate cancer live longer and better lives. Learn More