Prostate cancer is a malignant (cancerous) tumor (growth) that is made up of cells from the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men and the second highest cause of deaths from cancer, after lung cancer. It is a complex disease that predominantly affects older men and is normally one of the more slowly growing cancers.

Cancer is most frequently caused by injury to one or more of a cell’s genes. Cancer cells that get to be very abnormal can break off from a tumor and spread (also known as metastasize). Cancer cells that spread to other areas of the body can create tumors that can grow and squeeze other body parts. Cancer that develops in the prostate may stay localized (solely contained within the prostate) for years and cause few noticeable symptoms.

Prostate cancer doesn’t occur overnight but slowly emerges over time as a result of progressive changes in cell structure and behavior. It is found more in some racial and ethnic groups than in others, though medical experts don’t understand why. Prostate cancer is more commonplace among African American men than among white men. Men with a family link to prostate cancer through brothers or fathers also are at a greater risk of getting the disease under 50.

Prostate Cancer Treatment

Treatment is individual to every case and some types of prostatitis can be harder to treat, especially if symptoms have been ignored over a long period of time. Treatments vary and can including antibiotics, non steroid anti-inflammatory agents, muscle relaxants and often medications for chronic pain.

Treatment can bestow extra years of life for the patients and stop the agony of the disease, but cannot ordinarily cure them. Prostate problems can usually be treated without affecting sexual performance. Treatment for prostate cancer works best as long as the disease is found early. Treatment is painless, though some men may experience diarrhea, urinary problems and dry skin. It will be up to your attending physician to choose which treatment options will work best.

Prostate Cancer Detective work

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, have found that the hormone estrogen plays a major part in about half of all prostate cancers. They have isolated the first mutant gene known to raise the risk of prostate cancer, possibly by so much as three times. Research continues to better comprehend the link between genetic mutations and prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Symptoms

Symptoms caused by enlarged prostate growth can embody:

• Difficulty when passing urine
• The need to urinate more often, especially at night
• Blood in the urine
• Painful sensations when passing urine
• Pain in the back and/or pelvis linked with urinary problems.
• Symptoms of prostate cancer don’t normally appear until the cancer is in it’s advanced stages.

Prostate cancer isn’t always an aggressive disease and is very rare in men under 50. Prostate cancer is unlike any other cancer because it is relatively slow-growing and though it can kill, it often isn’t lethal.

One scare story about vasectomy is that it causes prostate cancer. This began when two new studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that men who had a vasectomy more than 20 years earlier faced an 89 percent greater risk of prostate cancer than those who have not undergone the procedure.

Although the studies were scientifically designed, experts say it is still too early to establish a cause and effect relation¬ship. The World Health Organization said more studies are needed before any conclusions can be drawn since three others studies found no relationship between vasectomy and prostate cancer.

Men who undergo vasectomy probably expect it to be a foolproof method of birth control. While this is true in most cases, a vasectomy can sometimes fail for a variety of reasons. In one percent of cases, the severed vas deferens (the two tubes that carry sperm from the testicles to the penis) rejoins itself.

And even if the operation is a complete success, unprotected intercourse is not advised for a while since sperm may still be present above the part where the tubes were cut. The best way to be sure about your vasectomy is to have your semen tested for the presence of sperm every now and then.

“The failure rate for a vasectomy is less than one percent. But your vasectomy is no immediate guarantee against pregnancy because of the sperm stored above the part where the vas deferens was cut. Thus, your physician will want to test your ejaculate for sperm. Generally, in most men the semen becomes sperm-free after eight to 10 ejaculantions following the vasectomy. Until your physician has determined that your ejaculate does not contain sperm, you should continue to use contraception,” said Dr. David E. Larson, editor-in-chief of the “Mayo Clinic Family Health Book.”

Can a vasectomy be reversed? Some couples may decide to have children later and may approach the doctor regarding this. Putting back the cut vas deferens is possible but it is a difficult procedure that is not always successful.

Furthermore, the vast majority of men who have their vasectomies reversed cannot father children because their sperm are coated with antibodies which cannot penetrate cervical mucus nor fertilize eggs. For this reason, most doctors consider a vasectomy a permanent procedure.

“It is possible to reattach the vas deferens once it has been severed. Unlike the initial operation, however, the vasovasectomy requires the skill of a surgeon trained to work under the magnification of a powerful microscope. Moreover, this is not an office procedure but requires two to three days in the hospital,” Larson revealed.

“Approximately 80 to 90 percent of men who have their vasectomies reversed do ejaculate sperm. However, only 30 to 40 percent father children after the reversal. The reason for this discrepancy may be that as a result of vasectomy many men develop antibodies that fight their sperm,” Larson concluded. (Next: Tubal ligation.)

To enjoy sex in your later years, keep fit, eat right and love life. That simple advice can go a long way in preserving your sex life. For extra help, take Fematril, a safe and natural female sexual enhancer that can stimulate your mind and body. For details, go to http://www.fematril.com/.

There are a number of natural and alternative treatments for the problem of an enlarged prostate and two of these are the use of pumpkin seeds and saw palmetto.

Odd as it might seem, pumpkin seeds have a number of healing properties and they have been found to be especially effective for many man suffering from an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seed have three properties which are particularly useful in this case.

The first is that pumpkin seeds contain fatty oil that acts as a natural diuretic and helps to improve urine flow and counter the restrictive effect of an enlarged prostate gland on the urethra.

The second property of pumpkin seeds is that they contain high levels of zinc so that a half a cup of seeds contains about eight milligrams of zinc. Studies have clearly shown that taking zinc can literally reduce the size of an enlarged prostate and many doctors recommend taking sixty milligrams a day in order to combat benign prostatic hypertrophy (an enlarged prostate). Care should be taken though and it is a good idea to talk to your doctor before raising your zinc intake to this level as it is above the normally recommended daily level.

The third benefit of pumpkin seeds is that they are high in animo acids such as alanine, glycerine and glutamic acid, all of which have again been shown to provide significant symptomatic relief.

Saw palmetto is also widely used for prostrate problems. Found in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds of which formed an important part of the diet of Seminole Indians.

Saw palmetto works by turning testosterone into dihyrotestosterone which is precisely the process used in Proscar, which is one of the very few over-the-counter treatments approved for prostate problems by the Food and Drug Administration. Its essential benefit is that it increases urinary flow, reduces the problem of residual urine and, as a consequence of both, also lessens the frequency of urination.

As with most natural treatments opinions vary widely as to the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but there have been a number of studies carried out over the years which have clearly shown that it does produce a significant benefit. In one study, a clinical study involving more than two thousand men in Germany suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy, a daily dose of just one or two grams of saw palmetto seeds produced a substantial easing of symptoms.

These are of course just two of the many alternative cures available but there is no doubt that these and similar natural treatments can and do work. Just as an example, it is thought that about thirty percent of American men suffer from an undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach the age of sixty compared to just one percent of Artic Inuit men at the same age. There may of course be several reasons for this enormous difference, but one difference which most doctors consider to be very significant is simply the fact the diet of Artic Inuit men is high in fish oil.

So, if you are suffering from an enlarged prostate then, before you turn to your doctor for treatment, you may find that simply adjusting your diet and looking at your intake of various vitamins and minerals may be all that is needed.