What is Prostate Cancer?
Cancer cells are abnormal cells that grow out of control and crowd out normal cells. Normal cells always grow and divide in an orderly fashion, whereas cancer cells grow more rapidly and out of control. Cancer cells can invade normal cells and destroy them, sometimes they grow directly into the surrounding tissue and sometimes they travel (metastasize) to another part of the body thru the bloodstream or lymph system. Cancer cells grow from a microscopic size into densely packed, hard clusters.
All cancer, whether prostate cancer or lung cancer, is characterized by cells that grow out of control. But different kinds of cancer have different behaviors. Different types of cancer exhibit different growth rates and different responses to treatment. Each type of cancer must be treated with methods that are designed to treat that particular type of cancer. Treatment for prostate cancer varies from treatment for other types of cancer and is designed to specifically destroy the prostate cancer cells.
If a tumor (mass of cells) is found in the prostate, it may not always be cancer. There are two types of tumors, benign and malignant. A benign tumor is not cancer and does not invade the surrounding tissue or spread to other parts of the body. Some men are diagnosed with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), which causes an enlarged prostate, but this is not cancer. Benign tumors can usually be removed and do not grow back.
Prostate cancer also causes an enlarged prostate, but is a malignant tumor. A malignant tumor is cancerous and usually more serious than a benign tumor. Malignant tumors can often be removed, but sometimes they grow back. They can also grow into the surrounding tissues or spread thru out the body.
Prostate cancer is usually a slow growing cancer that can take years before it causes problems, but there are some forms that are very fast growing, and experts are unable to tell the difference. If the prostate cancer stays within the limits of the prostate it does not generally cause much harm.
