The 9 things every man should know about his prostate

Here are the 9 most important things every man should know about prostate cancer:

1. Early prostate cancer usually has no symptoms. Many men don’t know that the prostate, a gland the size of a walnut, is located beneath the bladder and helps with sperm production.
2. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, with more than 52,000 cases reported each year in the UK. Yet it is also one of the least understood forms of cancer.
3. Risk factors for prostate cancer are: age over 50, being black (double risk from age 45) and a family history of prostate cancer.
4. Prostate cancer can be detected through the PSA blood test, although this test can be unreliable. New screening methods such as MRI scans and genetic tests promise better results.
5. Not all prostate cancers grow quickly. For low-risk cancers, “active monitoring” may be an option, where the cancer is monitored regularly rather than treated directly.
6. New treatments such as cryotherapy (freezing of cancer cells) and HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) are less invasive than surgery or radiation, but their long-term effectiveness has not yet been proven.
7. Immunotherapy, which stimulates the immune system to fight the cancer, is promising for other cancer types, but does not yet have the same effect on prostate cancer.
8. New “precision medicines” such as olaparib, which target the genetic characteristics of the cancer, could improve the survival chances of men with metastatic prostate cancer.
9. Artificial intelligence may be able to predict which men with early prostate cancer will benefit from hormone therapy, to prevent unnecessary side effects.