Via practica 9/2007

PROSTATE CANCER

Prostate cancer (PCA), next to non-melanoma skin tumors, is the most common tumor diagnosed in males over the age of 50. In 2007 there will be 218 890 new cases of PCA diagnosed in the USA and 27 050 of these will result in death. PCA is second only to lung cancer as the most frequent cause of death in male cancer patients. PCA represents 29 % of all tumors in males and 9 % of all deaths that are tumor related. In Slovakia, PCA is the fourth most common malignant tumor in males with an incidence of 31/100 000 with the first three being lung cancer, non -melanomic skin cancer and colorectal carcinomas respectively. PCA accounts for 4 % of all deaths in males. The lifetime risk that a man will die of this disease is 1 : 28. PCA is slowly becoming an problem of epidemic proportions worlwide. Presently, it is still not possible to predict the biological behavior of PCA. There are many variations of this type of tumor ranging from harmless to very aggresive. This article attempts to understand the epidemiology, pathogenesis, pathology, symptoms, diagnostics and therapy of prostate cancer.

Keywords: prostate cancer, Gleason score, prostate biopsy, digital rectal examination, DRE, TRUS.