What are the Signs and Symptoms of Prostate Cancer? | Cancer Research UK

Find out the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer from Cancer Research UK. Learn how prostate cancer is diagnosed and the tests needed to find out.

In the video, Dr. Vincent Gnanapragasm from Cambridge University talks us through prostate cancer symptoms, signs and types:

"As the most common cancer in men understanding Prostate Cancer is vital. So I’ve come to Cambridge University hospital to speak with Dr. Vincent Gnanapragasam to find out how they go about diagnosing this common cancer.

Well Vincent, Prostate Cancer is notoriously difficult to diagnose isn’t it. Indeed, in fact Prostate Cancer most often has no symptoms. A man might go to his GP because he has notice a change in his urinary symptoms, getting up at night maybe or having difficulty passing water. And most often that’s due to a normal enlargement of the prostate as he gets older. In fact prostate cancer doesn’t cause any symptoms unless it is very advanced. In which case it might mimic some of those symptoms of an obstructed or large prostate. But if there are any concerns the first step is to go and see your GP who can then investigate further.

What would your GP do?

- Take a history
- Do a physical examination
- PSA blood test

So what would your GP do? Most often they’ll take a history from you, do an examination of the prostate and do a PSA blood test. What is a PSA test? So PSA stand for Prostate Specific Antigene. It’s produced by the prostate gland and it’s a marker for the presence of Prostate Cancer. However it can also be raised by other conditions so it’s not a very specific marker but it’s the first test that we can do to see whether we should proceed to further investigations.

What is a PSA test? A blood test that measures the amount of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in your blood.

So what happens if you get sent to the hospital for an examination? The specialist will see you, again take a history and an examination and then most often what they will do is arrange a prostate biopsy. Increasingly they might recommend a scan to be done first, an MRI scan and then discuss with you what the best way to do a biopsy is.

What is a Biopsy? The removal of a small sample of tissue for examination to determine the presence or extent of a disease.

And if it is cancer tell us what happens then, tell us about some of the tests. Well, a discussion then starts. The first step is to make sure we know exactly what kind of Cancer it is and that might involve other types of scans, for example a CT scan or a bone scan. The kind of Cancer is determined by the size of it or the stage of a cancer. And once the specialist puts all that information together with what the biopsy has shown then they start to discuss with you what the treatments are."

[jamesmacoisdealbhaigh]

You may only survive for 10 years after prostate cancer, why is this, I thought when you go into remission or get cured of cancer you survive for longer.?? This is scaring me right now 😞

[kianakan]

Your title includes symptoms... so what's the symptoms????

[davidmontanez]

Good news men with prostate cancer can survive 10 or more years. And the good news is what?

[paulg]

So you take a psa test, which isn’t an accurate test. You can have high psa and no cancer, or low psa but do have cancer. Then you get a biopsy which effectively rips open holes in your prostate which some argue can help any cancer spread easier. Also the biopsy can be hit or miss. You can can have cancer but you miss it because the biopsy targeted the area that doesn’t have the cancer.
Doesn’t sound very scientifically accurate, does it?

[ferdinandblose]

How do you take small samples on biopsy using 12 needles. Biopsy is a terrible idea

[clarityschoolofdiving]

Did this tell us anything about the symptoms?

[deepfriedking]

so what as long as possible before being diagnosed and then you have 10 years after that.

[CancerResearchUK]

What did you think of this video? We want to know if you found it useful, easy to understand or if you’d share it with a friend. Let us know in the comments below.

[guybaldridge]

If they find cancer I’m 67 years old can I just refuse further treatments?

[GazaThug]

Thsts not good news. What about patients who recovered. What about cancer detection

[alexajones]

My father is 56, lost his appetite and urinate a small bit of blood. Other than these he has no other symptoms? Does this sound like prostate cancer

[johnwalker]

Does prostate cancer return after the 10 years then become fatal

[russellaustin]

If there are lesions on an MRI (and a biopsy is done) what else apart from cancer could it be ?