What is the Prostate?
The prostate is a gland about the size of a golf ball, situated at the base of the bladder in the pelvis. The gland surrounds the tube (urethra) through which urine is passed.

Sometimes the prostate can become enlarged, infected or inflamed. This can make it difficult for men to urinate. Symptoms include:

• frequent need to pass urine
• difficulty in starting to pass urine and straining, or a long time to finish
• weak flow
• a feeling that the bladder has not emptied
• pain on passing urine if infection
• pain on ejaculation
• pain in the genitals

Prostate Problems

Some problems of the prostate are more serious than others. The most common problem is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) which causes the gland to grow (BP Enlargement, BPE and sometimes to cause a blockage BP obstruction, BPO). This is more likely to affect men as they get older. The prostate gland slowly increases in size which causes difficulty or pain when passing urine. Treatment is available for this and having benign enlargement does not increase the risk of prostate cancer developing.

Prostatitis is an infection of the prostate. This can affect men of any age and causes pain and difficulty when passing urine. Prostatitis can also cause pain in the pelvis, genitals, back passage and on ejaculation and it can cause a fever. Prostatitis can be treated by antibiotics.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer is the most serious of prostate problems. Symptoms can include problems passing urine, lower back pain, pain in the hips and pelvis and occasionally blood in the urine, although this is rare.

It is important to remember that not everyone gets symptoms. Prostate cancer is increasingly being diagnosed at an early stage before symptoms occur. The Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test can give an early indication of prostate cancer before symptoms occur and can then be backed up by further tests to confirm diagnosis or otherwise. None of the tests are perfect and sometimes they can give false positives, when the result is high but there is no cancer.

If men have any concerns about their prostate, particularly if they are above 50 and there is a history of prostate cancer in the family, then it would be advisable for them to arrange to have a PSA test or at least discuss it with their GP. The GP may also give a DRE (Digital Rectal Examination) which is a simple test feeling the prostate through the back passage.

What is PSA?

Prostate Specific Antigen is a protein which is produced by the prostate. If there is a problem with the prostate, the levels of PSA in the blood can go up and it can be an indicator that treatment may be necessary. But the test is not always accurate and can sometimes show raised PSA levels when there is no underlying problem.

Why should men act now?

Prostate cancer affects 35,000 men each year in the UK and causes 14,000 deaths. A similar death rate as breast cancer in women. Whereas women are aware of the risks and regularly check their breasts for any untoward symptoms and go for regular mammograms, many men are unaware that there is a diagnostic test available which they can ask for if they are concerned. It is wise not to ignore symptoms such as those discussed above. If diagnosed early, treatment can be quite successful. Therefore, it's important to be aware of the symptoms and to see a GP as early as possible. Currently in the UK there are no routine screening programmes for prostate cancer.