tudied for possible links to the development of prostate cancer (Clinical Reference Systems, 2000). These include heredity, a high fat diet, workplace exposure to chemicals in the rubber, metal plating and welding industries, cadmium intake, smoking cigarettes, having a vasectomy and male hormones.
Prostate cancer often has no symptoms, but when they do occur, they depend on the size of the cancer and how far it has spread (Clinical Reference Systems, 2000). Symptoms include frequent and urgent urination, difficulty urinating, blood or pus in the urine, painful urination and ejaculation, and pain in the lower back, hips and thighs.
Because there are often no symptoms associated with the early stages of prostate cancer, it is usually diagnosed at a routine physical (Clinical Reference Systems, 2000). It can be diagnosed by a transrectal ultrasound procedure or a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. If either of these tests is abnormal, a biopsy is taken. Many doctors routinely do these tests on their older male patients on a yearly basis (Cramer, 1999). This combination of tests diagnoses approximately 80 percent of all prostate cancers. The PSA tests is also widely used to determine if a patient with prostate cancer is responding to treatment. The presence of PSA in the blood after the prostate has been removed indicates that some cancer has been left behind, since it is only produced by the prostate gland.
The PSA test will give a positive result in men with non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate (Cramer, 1999). This means that many men may have to submit to unnecessary biopsies, or be treated for prostate cancer which they do not have. In spite of this, the American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association both urge yearly PSA tests, but the National Cancer Institute does not. Also, experts disagree as to the reliability of the PSA test to diagnose prostate cancer, some saying it diagnoses 90...