Cancer Screening
Prostate Cancer
In the UK, about 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. We don't know exactly what causes prostate cancer but there are three main risk factors:
getting older – it mainly affects men aged 50 or over
having a family history of prostate cancer
being black and over 45years old.
If you have any of these risk factors or if you have any symptoms, contact us here and request a PSA blood test form. You can also get in touch with the Specialist Nurses at the prostate cancer charity here, who can help you understand your risk of prostate cancer.
Symptoms
Symptoms include a change in the way you urinate, this is more likely to be a sign of a very common non-cancerous problem called an enlarged prostate, or another health problem. But it’s still a good idea to get it checked out. Possible symptoms include:
- difficulty starting to urinate or emptying your bladder
- a weak flow when you urinate
- feeling that your bladder hasn’t emptied properly
- dribbling urine after you finish urinating
- needing to urinate more often than usual, especially at night
- a sudden need to urinate – you may sometimes leak urine before you get to the toilet.
Prostate Scoring System
|
Over the past month |
Not at all |
Less than 1 in 5 times |
Less than half the time |
About half the time |
More than half the time |
Almost always |
|
How often have you had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely when finished passing urine? |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
How often have you had to urinate again less than 2 hours after previously doing so? |
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
How often have you found you stopped and started again several times when you urinated? |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
How often have you found it difficult to postpone passing urine? |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
How often have you had a weak stream? |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
How often have you had to push or strain to begin passing urine? |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
How many times did you get up and urinate during the night? |
None |
Once
|
Twice
|
Three
|
Four
|
Five
|
In general all men with a score of 12 should consult their doctor at the next convenient appointment. Men with scores between 12 - 21 may also need further assessment.
Your doctor will be happy to see you and perform a simple rectal examination to assess the size of your prostate in such situations and discuss any further investigations such as urine or blood tests to guide further management.
Men with early prostate cancer will often have no symptoms because of the way the cancer grows. You’ll usually only get early symptoms if the cancer grows near the tube you urinate through (the urethra) and presses against it, changing the way you urinate (wee). But because prostate cancer usually starts to grow in a different part (usually the outer part) of the prostate, early prostate cancer doesn’t often press on the urethra and cause symptoms.
If prostate cancer breaks out of the prostate (locally advanced prostate cancer) or spreads to other parts of the body (advanced prostate cancer), it can cause other symptoms, including:
- back pain, hip pain or pelvis pain
- problems getting or keeping an erection
- blood in the urine or semen
- unexplained weight loss.
These symptoms can all be caused by other health problems but we urge you to book an appointment here so we can investigate further.
The charity Prostate Cancer UK has a wealth of information and support and a risk checker on its website which you can access here