Prostate Cancer

Hi,

I am Dr. Harbinder Singh, Urologist. Today I will talk about prostate cancer. It is a 2nd most common cancer in men worldwide. In India, the prostate cancer is not so common as compared to western places. There is a tremendous increase in prostate cancer because of change in lifestyle, dietary pattern. What are the symptoms that a patient can present to us? Symptoms are similar to benign prostate enlargement. The patient will have the difficulty in passing urine, the patient will have urgency, also will have difficulty in passing urine. Some of the patients are present with hematuria means the presence of blood in the urine. The patient can also be presented as a loss of appetite, loss of weight, the patient may also be presented in the hospital as a pathological fracture. How to diagnose prostate cancer? A urologist has to some examinations.

A urologist will place a finger in the patient's rectum to test the gland. Normally glands are very soft but if the glands are very hard, one can suspect prostate cancer. We do a simple blood test in which PSA is positive, we suspect prostate cancer. We also do an ultrasound of the patient. One of the most important aspects of prostate cancer in the early screening of prostate cancer. It can have tremendous causes of implications. So treatment is very much required before the disease has spread. We always suggest to the male patient to undergo screenings between the age of 55-69 so that disease can be detected at an early stage. Those who are of 70 years of age, should not undergo PSA test and also who have the life expectancy less than 10 years.

Once it is diagnosed, what is the treatment for prostate cancer? Treatment depends upon whether prostate cancer is localized or it has spread to the other organs. For localize the problem, the treatment can be given by laparoscopy, robotic techniques. The other modality of the treatment will radiotherapy. We strictly follow the patient if the disease is major. If the disease is increasing then we suggest the patient go for radiotherapy. We also offer hormonal therapies to the patient. Those who fail the hormonal therapy, we give a different kind of hormonal therapy.

Thank You!