Prostate cancer Each year, nearly 27,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 9,000 die from it. It has become the most common cancer in men and mainly affects older men over the age of 50.

In this article

What causes it? What are the symptoms?

How's it diagnosed and treated? Can it be prevented?

The prostate is a male sex gland that produces a thick fluid that forms part of the semen. It is about the size of a walnut and is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum.

The causes of prostate cancer are not fully understood yet, but it appears to be associated with a high-fat, high-meat, low-vegetable diet.

Men with a strong family history of prostate cancer are at greater risk of developing the disease.

Ethnic origin also seems to play a role, for example, Afro-Caribbean or African-American men are more likely to develop the disease than Asian men.

In its early stages, prostate cancer often doesn't cause symptoms, but when these do occur they may include any of the following:

• Difficulty or delay in urinating
• Stopping and starting urinating
• A weak stream of urine
• Urinating more often than usual
• Pain while urinating
• Blood in the urine
• Pain or stiffness in the lower back, pelvis and hips

It's important to be aware that there are a number of other, non-cancerous medical conditions that may also cause these symptoms.

If diagnosed early, treatment can be successful, so it's important to be aware of the symptoms and go to your GP as early as possible. There are currently no routine screening programmes for prostate cancer in the UK.

Your GP will examine you and perform a digital rectal examination. He will arrange for any blood tests (for example, a prostate specific antigen or PSA test), or other tests, such as x-rays or scans, that may be necessary.

If you're referred to a specialist they may arrange for you to have a biopsy of the prostate and this should indicate whether or not prostate cancer is present and, if it is, whether or not it is aggressive. These results will influence the types of treatment available to you.

Treatment depends on a number of factors, primarily whether the cancer is contained within the prostate (localised) or has spread around the body (advanced). Localised disease, where the cancer is small and contained, is generally managed by observation (watchful waiting), surgery (radical prostatectomy where the prostate is removed) or radiotherapy.

Advanced disease is often treated using hormone therapy (reducing the amount of testosterone in the body to slow down or stop the growth of the cancer cells).

A healthy, low-fat diet may help prevent prostate cancer. Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, including plenty of tomatoes, and reduce your consumption of red and processed meat.

Make sure you get plenty of selenium, vitamin E and lycopene (found in tomatoes) in your diet as these may protect against prostate cancer.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Rob Hicks in December 2006.
First published in April 2001.