When To Startand Stopscreening
The doctors and researchers who recommend screening argue that cases of prostate cancer found very early can be cured more quickly, with less chance of relapse or spread. Those who recommend against routine screening point to the slow-moving nature of prostate cancer and the side effects of surgical and medical treatment, which can be considerable.
The introduction of PSA screening in the US led to an initial increase in the number of prostate cancer cases diagnosed each year, even though many of these new cases were non-aggressive or low-risk prostate cancer. The issue was not that screening was harmful, it was that many of these low-risk cancers did not necessarily need immediate treatment. It seems strange to say that a patient might be better off leaving cancer untreated, but in some cases, it can be true. For a few years, the United States Preventative Services Task Force recommended against PSA screening. We are now seeing more cases of advanced prostate cancer diagnosed in recent years. This may be a long-tail effect of that USPSTF recommendation. It has now been changed to note that for men aged 55 to 69 years, the decision to undergo PSA screening is an individual one and should be discussed with your doctor. USPSTF continues to recommend against screening for men aged 70 and over.
Who Should Get A Digital Rectal Exam
Not all medical institutions agree on when men should begin screening for prostate cancer or even if a DRE should be part of the screening.
To help detect prostate cancer in its early stages, the American Cancer Society recommends that men talk to their doctors about the benefits, risks, and limitations of prostate cancer screening before deciding whether to be tested.
For most men at average risk, discussions about screening begin at age 50. However, some doctors recommend that men at higher risk of prostate cancer — African-American men or men with a family history of prostate cancer — start screening earlier.
Whats The Recommended Age For Your First Prostate Exam
Starting at age 50, all men should discuss getting a prostate exam with their doctor.
The reason for this is prostate cancer. In the UK, about one in eight men will be diagnosed with this in their lifetime. It mainly affects men aged 50 plus, but your risk increases as you get older, and the most common age to be diagnosed is between 65 and 69 years. Most men with early prostate cancer dont have any noticeable signs or symptoms.
The exception to this rule is if you are experiencing symptoms, or if your genetics predispose you as higher risk. Doctors are increasingly finding the tendency towards some prostate cancers can be inherited from your fathers family. Additionally, black men are at a higher risk, with one in four getting prostate cancer in their lifetime.
If youre experiencing no symptoms, heres the recommended age for prostate exam:
- If you have a family history, first prostate exam at age 40
- If you are black, first prostate exam at age 45
- If you have no family history and youre not black, first prostate exam at age 50
Don’t Miss: Does An Enlarged Prostate Affect A Man Sexually
Indications For Prostate Exam Procedure
It is important to clarify that the prostate exam is not for any man. Medical science has established ages and protocols to determine who benefits from tracking and who does not.
The main parameters have to do with the age of the patient:
- Over 50 years: these men need to do a prostate exam every year or every two years.
- Between 45 and 50 years: This age group get screenings if you have risk factors for prostate cancer. For example, descendants of black races or those who have had a family member with diagnosed prostate cancer.
- Under 40 years: it is rare for a person under forty years to have an indication for prostate examinations. Men with more than one close relative with prostate cancer are candidates.
When the need for the prostate exam is determined, the doctor orders a prostate antigen measurement and a rectal exam. The measurement is carried out with laboratory techniques through a blood sample and digital rectal examination, in the same office.
If the laboratory results are normal, the patient will have to repeat it in one year. In some cases, without risk factors, prostate antigen measurement can be scheduled every two years.
When Should You Get Your First Prostate Exam
In 30 seconds
The answer to when you should get your first prostate exam depends on your medical history and genetic predisposition.
Your prostate grows throughout your life, which means youre more likely to experience problems as you age.
Prostate cancer is often symptomless, but if you feel unwell, consult a doctor: identifying whats wrong will help you get the right treatment.
First off, what is a prostate? This is a walnut-sized gland located below the bladder, near your rectum. It secretes fluid that becomes part of semen, helping to carry sperm. has two main growth phases first in puberty, and the second from around age 25, continuing at a rate of 14% increase each decade.
Sometimes the prostate can become enlarged enough to cause problems or as a result of related health issues. The most common prostate problems are:
- Prostatitis: when your prostate becomes inflamed as a result of an infection
- Benign prostatic hyperplasia : an overly enlarged prostate
- Prostate cancer
The recommended age for a prostate exam takes into account the fact the prostate grows throughout adulthood, but BPH, prostatitis and prostate cancer can affect you at any age. Below, well outline what to look out for, when to get a prostate exam, and what that entails.
Recommended Reading: Can Prostate Cancer Go Away
What Happens After The Dre
If any abnormalities are found during the DRE, the doctor may order more tests and possibly schedule a prostate biopsy to see if there are any signs of cancer present.
If there are no signs of prostate cancer found during screening, the results of the PSA blood test may help to determine the time between future prostate cancer screenings. PSA levels vary by age and other factors.
Ultimately, you and your doctor will decide how often you should be screened since your diet, health and lifestyle habits are all factors on the timing and frequency of your prostate cancer screenings. Be sure to consult with your doctor if you notice any changes in your health.
Benefits And Risks Of Screenings
The benefit of any cancer screening test is to find cancer early, when it easier to treat. But the value of PSA screening for prostate cancer is debated. No single answer fits all men.
Prostate cancer often grows very slowly. PSA levels can begin to rise years before a cancer causes any symptoms or problems. It is also very common as men age. In many cases, the cancer will not cause any problems or shorten a man’s life span.
For these reasons, it is not clear if the benefits of routine screenings outweigh the risks or side effects of being treated for prostate cancer once it is found.
There are other factors to think about before having a PSA test:
- Anxiety. Elevated PSA levels does not always mean you have cancer. These results and the need for further testing can cause a lot of fear and anxiety, even if you do not have prostate cancer.
- Side effects from further testing. If your PSA test is higher than normal, you may need to have a one or more biopsies to find out for sure. A biopsy is safe, but can cause problems such as an infection, pain, fever, or blood in the semen or urine.
- Overtreatment. Many prostate cancers will not affect your normal life span. But since it is impossible to know for sure, most people want to get treatment. Cancer treatment can have serious side effects, including problems with erections and urinating. These side effects can cause more problems than the untreated cancer.
Recommended Reading: Retrograde Ejaculation Tamsulosin
Why Is Active Surveillancethe Wait
We utilize active surveillance for men who have been diagnosed with a low-grade prostate cancer. The reason we monitor low-grade prostate cancer using active surveillance, rather than treating it aggressively, is that there are cancers that dont need treatment.
With low-grade prostate cancer, youre more likely to have problems from the treatment than from the prostate cancer. Any treatment we do for prostate cancer is going to affect a mans urinary and sexual function. It may affect it a little bitor a lot. With this type of prostate cancer, we can tell you now that theres very little likelihood the cancer is going to cause you any problems. We have a good and growing amount of evidence that low-grade prostate cancers, on average, progress very slowly and do not appear to spread to the lymph nodes. Active surveillance lets us detect higher grade disease and treat it at that point.
For us to do anything and treat it is going to change your quality of life. I think thats a powerful thing.
Do You Also Ejaculate When You Have A Prostate
Fred: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Occasionally Ill shoot when Ive gone through a prostate orgasm, but usually, if I ejaculate, I dont even notice.
Alan: Most of the time I do ejaculate with a prostate-induced orgasm, but the first time I didnt. Its how I learned I could climax without an ejaculation.
Drew: I generally cum from p-spot orgasms, but it’s more drawn out and less of a “shooting my load” type situation. The cum oozes out during the drawn-out orgasm and is usually accompanied by some really lovely spasming of my hole.
Oh boy, do I ever. I have been told on multiple occasions that I need to do adult film work with the amount that I ejaculate when my prostate is stimulated. Fountain, hose, shower, drain spoutjust a few of the words that humans have used to describe my cumshot when something is up my rear end.
Daniel: Many times when I’m enjoying prostate stimulation it’s difficult to keep an erection. I get lost in the waves of pleasure and just lose it. Other times, I can maintain my erection and will masturbate while being penetrated or stimulated. I can time my prostate orgasm with my penile one causing a massive surge of energy and triggering dopamine to leak in my brain.
Dominus: I practice Tantra and can have multiple body orgasms that aren’t ejaculatory, and prostate play can get me to that state. Now if I want to ejaculate at the same time, at my age, this is the only time I really shoot like I did in my teen years.
You May Like: Does An Enlarged Prostate Affect A Man Sexually
What Do You Say To Patients Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer
Something I say to my patients a lot is that, in treating prostate cancer, we end up trying to extend your quantity of life at the cost of your quality of life. And so, at some point, if the quantity is extended a lot, and we can minimize the effect on quality, that makes sense, but the equation is different for every man. How much decrease in quality of life are you willing to accept if were going to extend your life?
Realistically, a lot of guys who are 70 dont have any sexual function anyway, so thats not a huge loss for them. As men get older theres definitely an increased chance of having erectile dysfunction the guys who have sexual function over 70 are very keen on preserving it. Even for the guys who dont have good sexual function, who are on Viagra, for them its often even more important to preserve what sexual function they have.
Prostate Exam In Concord Mint Hill And Charlotte
Some men are hesitant about getting tested, but a skilled urologist will give you confidence and knowledge about maintaining your prostate health. Dr. Richard Natale is here to help you maintain optimum sexual health and overall health as well.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Natale, contact our friendly staff at Carolina Urology today by calling 786-5131 or by filling out our appointment request form online now. We look forward to serving you.
Don’t Miss: Does Enlarged Prostate Affect Ejaculation
Diagnosis And Treatment Of Female Prostate Cancer
Due to the challenges of diagnosis, the signs of female prostate cancer are often mistakenly attributed to underlying conditions in the urinary tract or reproductive system.
Unfortunately, the initial stage of cancer in the Skene glands is asymptomatic. Once your menstrual cycle is disrupted, sex becomes painful, or youre always feeling sick, the disease is quite advanced.
Treatment of female prostate cancer follows a similar strategy to that of other reproductive cancers. If chemical and radiation therapies arent successful in eradicating tumors, then surgery will likely be required to excise them. Frequently, the surgical removal of larger tumors and the chemical destruction of smaller tumors happen simultaneously.
In more severe cases, the organ or organs containing the cancerous growths must be removed as well. This could include your Skene glands, uterus, ovaries, or your entire reproductive system . Whenever cancer in the Skene glands goes undiagnosed and untreated, bladder cancer may follow.
Medical experts have theorized that female prostate cancer could be linked to a history of sexually transmitted infections. The Skene glands, like the male prostate, act as guardians against infections that travel throughout the reproductive system.
Prostate Exam Procedure When Do You Need To Have It And Why
Prostate exam procedure, why do you need it? It is actually of vital importance for men from certain ages, so read carefully.
The prostate exam is a topic that is often taboo among men. For many it means an invasion of privacy that they are not willing to give up. However, over time it has become more and more accepted.
The prostate is a gland that only the male sex has. It is located below the bladder and surrounds the urethra. It has the function of producing liquids that will later make up the semen.
Over the years, the prostate increases in size progressively. It is a phenomenon to which all men are subjected by age. We know that by the age of eighty, almost 70% of them have abnormal growths of the gland.
Prostate cancer is the most aggressive and deadly form of this enlarged gland. It is one of the most common cancers among men and is responsible for significant mortality.
Just as for women the Pap smear and mammography are preventive tools for oncological diseases, the same is true for men. The prostate exam is the preventive tool for males.
A prostate exam initially involves two practices: prostate antigen measurement and digital rectal examination. In the event that either or both produce altered results, the second diagnostic phase is carried out with images and prostate biopsy.
But lets see first, before detailing each prostate exam, who should undergo them.
You May Like: Flomax Ejaculatory Dysfunction
Why Should I Get Both Prostate Cancer Screenings
Both screenings provide valuable information about your health that can detect prostate cancer, even at an early stage. One result without the other may not provide enough indication of whether or not treatment is necessary.
There are many reasons why a mans prostate may be enlarged, and prostate cancer is only one. When paired with a PSA blood test, results can better indicate whether further testing is needed to determine a diagnosis.
Who Should Get Screened For Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer typically starts in men around 55 to 70 years old. For men who are not at a higher risk of developing the disease should begin a conversation with their doctor about getting screened in their fifties and repeat the screening about every two years.
Men who are at higher risk for developing prostate cancer should begin screenings at age 40. Those at higher risk for prostate cancer include:
- Black or African-American men
- Men with a family history of prostate cancer
- Men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer before
- Men who have a family history of colon, breast, ovarian, or pancreatic cancer
You May Like: How Effective Is Chemotherapy For Prostate Cancer
Is It Common To Have Prostate In Women
You might have heard few people talking about female prostate issues. But the real fact is that female body does not include prostate gland. The glands that women often talk about are actually small glands that can be observed at front portion of vagina whereas corresponding ducts to these glands are well recognised as Skenes Glands/Ducts.
The researchers have defined few specific terminologies related to this condition. It is observed that Phosphatase and Prostate Specific Antigen use to stay present in both Skenes glands as well as in male prostate.
But the fact is that it is still not clear during researches that whether female prostate glands turns into small ducts on every side of urethra or it is urethra itself. You must be aware about function of urethra, it use to carry urine out of body so it is definitely a functional part for genital of females and for the urinary system.
Female urinary system
Here is an important thing to know for all worried people that as prostate gland in females share same functionality as that of male prostate gland so we cannot say that it will always lead to a prostate cancer.
When Should I Have A Prostate Check
Generally, if you aged 50 years or older and have any urinary symptoms, you should let your doctor know. They will discuss with you whether or not you should have a prostate check.
Symptoms include:
- poor flow of urine
- trouble stopping peeing
- dribbling after you are done peeing
- needing to pee more often, at night or urgently
- trouble starting peeing
- incontinence
- pain when peeing
- blood in your pee.
If you have no symptoms, it is recommended that you get checked if you:
- you are a man aged 5070 years old but dont have any family history
- you are a man aged 4070 years old and your father or brother has had prostate cancer
- you are a man aged more than 70 years old and you have family history of prostate cancer or you have had an abnormal PSA test previously, and you have a life expectancy of more than 10 years.
Having a prostate check is your decision. The tests for prostate cancer can be uncomfortable but they may reduce your chance of being harmed or dying from prostate cancer.
If your test results suggest you are at risk of cancer, you will need to decide whether to have further testing and possibly treatment. In making this decision, you will need to consider whether your quality of life will be better living with a slow growing cancer than having treatments, which may cause you more harm than the cancer ever will.
Your doctor can help you weigh up the benefits and risks of being tested, by taking into consideration factors such as your age and family history.
You May Like: Does Enlarged Prostate Affect Ejaculation