Want to know more about prostate cancer? Dr Nick Plowman, Clinical Oncologist at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London answers some common questions about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of prostate cancer. Use the video clip menu below to select a question.
Video menu
- What is prostate cancer? (NOW PLAYING)
- What are the symptoms?
- How is prostate cancer diagnosed?
- What treatment is there?
- Tell me about surgery for prostate cancer
- Tell me about radiotherapy for prostate cancer
- What if the cancer is advanced?
Video transcript: What is prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer is one of the commonest cancers in the western world - approximately 20,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Whilst the disease may be incidental in some elderly and frail men who will die in the next few years from other diseases, it is nevertheless a potentially fatal disease for the younger fitter man in whom the prostate cancer progresses.
Early diagnosis is the key. A serum test called PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) - a protein that can be detected in the blood - has been very important in the early detection of prostate cancer and it is a truism that nowadays we diagnose prostate cancer much earlier than was possible say 15-20 years ago.
Whilst the disease may be incidental in some elderly and frail men who will die in the next few years from other diseases it is nevertheless a potentially fatal disease for the younger fitter man in whom the prostate cancer progresses.
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by Nick Plowman