Diseases of the prostate
Diseases of the prostate are not inevitable. Some men live their whole lives without having any problems with the prostate. However, many others are not so lucky. Reaching the elderly, most men face a particular problem related to the prostate gland. It can only bring anxiety and discomfort, and can be very serious and painful.
Three types of diseases can affect the prostate gland. Often, but not always, they are associated with certain periods in the life of a man.
In inflammation, the prostate swells and becomes painful. In many cases, the cause of the disease is a bacterial infection. In other cases, the cause can not be identified. It can be associated with stagnation of blood in the organs of the small pelvis, hypothermia, etc., up to sexual excesses. Inflammation of the prostate is called prostatitis and is the most common prostate disease among men younger than 50 years. This second group of diseases is devoted to the second part of the book.
At about age 45, prostate tissue often begins to grow again. This growth is called benign prostatic hyperplasia( BPH), or prostate adenoma. Growth usually begins in the central part of the gland. Prostate tissue squeezes the urethra and causes problems with urination. This is the most common disease of the prostate gland in men over 50 years of age. Details of the causes of these processes and methods of dealing with them are discussed in the third part of the book.
Prostate cancer most often develops after 50 years and is a consequence of very rapid and uncontrolled growth of cells of glandular tissue. Unlike prostate adenoma, when the inner part of the gland extends, in cancer the tumor usually develops on the outer parts of the prostate. Depending on the type of deflection of tumor cells from the normal process of cell growth, these tumors in some cases grow very slowly, in others - faster. This is indeed a serious threat to health, but not yet a verdict. The fourth part of the book is devoted to the problems associated with this group of diseases.
Feelings of heaviness, raspiraniya and soreness often warn us about problems associated with the prostate gland, especially with inflammation and hypertrophy. However, many painful conditions of the prostate do not manifest themselves so clearly and for a long time do not attract the attention of men. Meanwhile, the painful process is gradually flowing. Next, we list those symptoms that do not attract attention to themselves or are forced to immediately seek qualified help. Not all of them are associated exclusively with diseases of the prostate gland - similar symptoms can cause infections of the urinary system, kidney and bladder diseases, which at the same time are very closely related to prostate diseases.
The need to get up at night to urinate( nocturia).
Difficult start of urination.
Urine flow is weak or intermittent.
Frequent need for urination.
Sensation of incomplete emptying of the bladder immediately after urination.
Urine continues to drip or leak after the end of urination.
Intolerable urge to urinate.
Blood in the urine( hematuria).
Painful ejaculation.
Pain or burning during urination.
Unpleasant sensations or pains in the perineum.
Constant pain in the sacrum or in the region of the hips.
Pain or swelling of the testicles.
Unfortunately, in the early stages of prostate cancer is poorly manifested in these symptoms, if at all. Later, when the disease is much harder to treat, symptoms such as difficulty urinating or back pain can "manifest".Therefore, it is very important to check with a doctor regularly to recognize the disease at an early stage.
There is no precise and objective methodology for calculating who exactly will face prostate problems. However, many factors( one of which we can influence, and others lie outside our capabilities) affect the likelihood of the disease. Such factors in the language of medicine are called risk factors for the development of the disease, or, in short, risk factors. Those risk factors that can not be influenced are called uncontrolled risk factors;those that are associated with the lifestyle of a person and can be taken under control - controlled factors.
The most important uncontrolled risk factors for prostate diseases.
Age. The risk of developing prostate adenoma and prostate cancer increases with age. It is estimated that more than half of men between the ages of 60 and 70 and 90% of men between the ages of 70 and 90 find signs and symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland. Someone said with "black humor" that every man will get prostate adenoma if he lives long enough. Prostate cancer also occurs with increasing frequency. More than 70% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are older than 65 years.
Ethnic group. This risk factor is less pronounced in our country, where most of the ethnic groups have long and reliably mixed with each other, but the more "high" - racial - belonging still makes itself felt. If you rely on the data of world studies, it is found out that it is not known why, but people with black skin are more prone to prostate diseases than representatives of other races. In addition, they are more likely to develop prostate cancer at a younger age and often have heavier forms of it. The mortality rate of prostate cancer among Negroes is two times higher than among Caucasians and Hispanic Indians, three times higher than those from the Far East, and five times higher than among American Indians. On the other hand, people of the Mongoloid race are least likely to develop prostate cancer. Immigrants from the Middle Eastern countries of the Semitic group( ethnic Arabs and ethnic Jews) show such rates of incidence, as well as representatives of the white race of Central European origin.
Family history of the disease. Studies have shown that if your father or brother has had prostate cancer, then your chances of getting sick are at least twice that of a man whose family did not have such cases. And if you consider all the relatives who suffered from this disease, and the age at which each of them fell ill, the risk may be even higher. In families where men often have prostate cancer, it usually occurs at a younger age.
The history of your family's illnesses also affects the likelihood of having prostate adenoma. Here the main risk factor is age. But among men who fell ill with BPH between the ages of 40 and 55, many had a hereditary gene that made them predisposed to this ailment. However, the presence of a gene does not make the disease inevitable, but only increases the risk.
Mass of bones. The relative mass of bone tissue can also affect the risk of developing prostate cancer. As a result of interesting studies of 30 years, it was found that in men with a higher relative bone mass, prostate cancer develops more often. The reasons for this dependence are still unclear.
The number of patients with prostate cancer varies from person to person. Scientists believe that this dependence is not genetic, but rather related to environmental factors and the way of life that people lead. However, there are more questions than answers in this regard. So, let's list the controlled risk factors in the order in which modern science gives them value.
Environmental condition of the environment. Scientists are trying to identify those factors of the external environment of a certain region that can play an important role in the risk of developing prostate cancer. High mortality from prostate cancer is observed among men engaged in certain types of physical labor: rural workers, mechanics, welders, workers in the workplace. In men of other professions, it is lower. Scientists suggest that this increase in morbidity is due to the impact of the external environment, and not on nutrition or way of life.
Power. There is reason to believe that a diet rich in fats, especially saturated, can increase the risk of prostate cancer. Studies have shown that men, whose diet includes a lot of fat, are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than those who eat less fat. A large number of consumed calories also increases the risk of the disease: men who consume a lot of calories, thus increasing the risk of prostate cancer, the same applies to a diet rich in fats and calcium. Scientists suggest that an increased risk of the disease may be caused by the fact that fat stimulates the production of the hormone testosterone, which, in turn, accelerates the development of cancer cells in the prostate gland. If this theory proves to be true, we can reduce the risk of prostate cancer or slow the development of cancer cells, limiting ourselves to fatty foods. Scientists concluded that a man can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 50%, limiting fat intake to 30% of the total daily caloric intake. There are also reports that substances contained in soy products, certain vegetables and fruits, can reduce the risk of the disease. In the fifth part of the book, various methods will be described, including a diet that will help you to protect yourself from prostate diseases or delay their development.
Sexual activity. A man who has suffered a venereal disease has a very high chance of developing prostate cancer. The journal Epidemiology published the results of an analysis undertaken by scientists who summarized 36 earlier studies of the relationship between sexual infections and prostate cancer. They found that men who had had at least one sexually transmitted disease were 1.4-2.3 times more likely to have prostate cancer than those who had never been sick with them.
The increase in the number of sexual partners a man had before the age of 20 between 20 and 30, between 40 and 50 years, and between the ages of 50 and 64 also increases the risk of developing prostate cancer. Scientists say that a man who had two or more female partners in these periods risks prostate cancer twice as big as that of one partner. They also believe that if a man has more than 30 sexual partners in his life, he is more likely to develop a more severe form of prostate cancer.
On the other hand, the relationship between sexual activity and the incidence of prostate cancer has been revealed: in the group of sexually passive men, the incidence rate is about three times higher. Apparently, frequent ejaculation( up to 5 times per week) prevents the accumulation of carcinogens in the prostate gland. However, this applies to masturbation or sex with regular partners: an increase in the number of partners increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, etc.
Smoking. Smoking increases the risk of prostate cancer among young people. In 2003, research results were published showing that among men under 55 who had prostate carcass due to cancer, there were three times as many smokers as non-smokers. In addition, the longer a man smoked before he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, the more likely that the cancer is already very dangerous. It is meant that the tumor could spread beyond the prostate to other organs.
Admission of hormonal drugs. The additional intake of large doses of dehydroepiandrosterone( DHEA) can stimulate an increase in the prostate and the degeneration of the tumor into a malignant one. The hormone DHEA in physiological quantities is present in the body of a healthy person and is considered a regulator of the balance of sex hormones - male and female. It is considered a prohormone, which easily turns into other hormones, in the first place - testosterone. The level of DHEA in the body increases dramatically in the pubertal period, remains at a high level during maturity, and then gradually decreases with age.
Additives containing DHEA are advertised as a means to slow the aging process, burn fat, build muscle and strengthen the immune system. They are also widely used for the treatment of various diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Studies have not yet confirmed that these supplements are really effective. In any case, the work testifying to the insufficient efficiency of DHEA in the process of building muscle mass is quite numerous. In addition, it is not known exactly what the long-term effect these supplements can have and how compatible they are with other medications that are being taken at this time by a person: cardiac, anti-inflammatory, etc.