Prostate Cancer: Lowering Your Risk

By Amy Campbell After I wrote last week's posting, I came across more information on how nutrition and diet may help lower the risk for prostate cancer, so I'll share that this week. But first things first. How is prostate cancer diagnosed? Prostate cancer may be diagnosed during a physical exam; specifically, a digital rectal exam, during which the doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the rectum to feel for lumps, bumps, hard areas, or anything else unusual on the prostate. If cancer is suspected, your doctor may be able to tell which side it's on and/or if it's spread. The other way that prostate cancer may be diagnosed is with a blood test called the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. PSA is normally found in small amounts in the blood; higher amounts may indicate infection, inflammation, or cancer. Of course, neither of these two tests can definitively confirm cancer. If something is suspicious, your doctor should recommend further testing, which may include an ultrasound and/or a biopsy of the prostate tissue. If cancer is found, it's graded using something called a Gleason score, which ranges from 2 (nonaggressive) to 10 (very aggressive). Prostate cancer is then staged on a scale of I to IV, based mostly on whether the cancer has spread or not. How is prostate cancer treated? A diagnosis of any type of cancer usually signals the need for urgent attention and treatment. But with prostate cancer, if it's in a very early stage, sometimes there is no treat...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs