Prostate Diseases

The prostate is one of the components of a man's sex organs. It is a walnut-sized gland in young men. As the age goes by, the prostate slowly increases in size, and this can cause problems. The prostate is wrapped around the urine passage tube, the urethra. The urethra also carries semen, the fluid that contains sperm, out of the body during ejaculation. The prostate adds special fluids to the semen when a man ejaculates, and muscles in the prostate gland contract to force the semen out of the body.

Common Prostate Diseases

• Prostatitis

• Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)

• Prostate cancer

Prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) is the most common prostate disease, usually seen in men between 25 to 50 years of age. It may be caused by a bacterial infection or have no identifiable cause. This is a disease with wide range of symptoms like mild pain the lower abdomen, perineum, testis and even urinary symptoms. Either way, it can produce severe pain, burning, and disability. Prostatitis may occur in older men as well, but is less common. For men over the age of 50, the prostate is enlarged in size and is called prostatomegaly or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Due to the enlargement of prostate it begins to squeeze the urinary passage pipe and prevents urine from flowing easily from the bladder to the outside of the body. Although this condition is not cancerous, it can still cause serious problems like urinary infections, stones, kidney problems, blood in urine requiring treatment. Prostate cancer is extremely common in older men and rarely is a fatal disease. The symptoms are becaue of the enlarged prostate as mentioned earlier, but can cause problems due to spread of cancer as well, such as the bones and lymphnodes. It is easily curable in its early stages. Prostae cancer is not always dangerous as many have undetected prostate cancer for many years, eventually dying of unrelated conditions.

Digital rectal examination done by a urologist can assess the prostate and further evaluation by blood and urine tests and some radiological imaging like ultrasound can identify the disease. Prostatic diseases are very common and different diseases appear at different age groups. Options of treatment are both medical and surgical depending on the disease. Correct diagnosis and prompt treatment will cure most of the prostate related symptoms.