Prostate Cancer Survival Rates Are Favorable Overall
Thinking about survival rates for prostate cancer takes a little mental stretching. Keep in mind that most men are around 70 when diagnosed with prostate cancer. Over, say, five years, many of these men will die from other medical problems unrelated to prostate cancer.
To determine the prostate cancer survival rate, these men are subtracted out of the calculations. Counting only the men who are left provides what’s called the relative survival rate for prostate cancer.
Taking that into consideration, the relative survival rates for most kinds of prostate cancer are actually pretty good. Remember, we’re not counting men with prostate cancer who die of other causes:
- 92% of all prostate cancers are found when they are in the early stage, called local or regional. Almost 100% of men who have local or regional prostate cancer will survive more than five years after diagnosis.
- Fewer men have more advanced prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis. Once prostate cancer has spread beyond the prostate, survival rates fall. For men with distant spread of prostate cancer, about one-third will survive for five years after diagnosis.
Many men with prostate cancer actually will live much longer than five years after diagnosis. What about longer-term survival rates? According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, for men with local or regional prostate cancer:
- the relative 10-year survival rate is 98%
- the relative 15-year survival rate is 96%
Surprising Prostate Cancer Statistics
2020-07-3030 July 2020
Prostate cancer is common, but did you know that its the second most common cancer diagnosed in American men? Here are eight other surprising prostate cancer statistics, according to the American Cancer Society:
- Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in American men.
- 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
- Prostate cancer has race-related risk factors and is diagnosed more frequently in African American men.
- Men under 40 are rarely diagnosed with prostate cancer.
- More than half of prostate cancer diagnoses are men who are 65 or older.
- The average age of diagnoses is 66.
- This year, 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed.
- 34,000 men will die from prostate cancer this year.
Prostate Cancer What Is It
To get checked for prostate cancer please consult with your GP.
The human body is made up of billions of tiny building blocks called cells. Sometimes, cells reproduce in an uncontrolled way and grow into a lump, or tumour. There are two kinds of tumours: noncancerous and cancerous . Benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body and are not life threatening .
Prostate cancer occurs when abnormal cells develop in the prostate. These cells have the potential to continue to multiply, and possibly spread beyond the prostate. Doctors do not know what causes prostate cancer. What they do know however, is that the growth of cancer cells in the prostate is stimulated by male hormones, especially testosterone. Most prostate cancer growth is influenced by testosterone but the speed at which prostate cancer grows varies from man to man. In some men the cancer grows very slowly , in others growth is more rapid .
Men are more likely to develop prostate cancer as they get older. It is also more common in men who have a father or brother with prostate cancer, and in families who carry certain genes such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.
Anyone with a prostate can get prostate cancer including transgender women, male-assigned non-binary people or intersex people.
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What Goes Wrong With The Prostate
As men get older, the prostate gland increases in size. Many men will develop a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia . BPH is not cancer. Men who have difficulty urinating may have drug therapy or an operation called a TURP to relieve the symptoms of BPH.
Prostate cancer can, in some advanced cases, cause urinary difficulties similar to those for BPH. So, some men with prostate cancer may be offered a TURP. This procedure involves cutting away part of the prostate in order to relieve symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate. It is done under general or spinal anesthetic so you will not feel any pain, and most patients will need to stay in hospital for around one to three nights following the procedure. This operation does not cure prostate cancer.
What Is A Normal Psa Test Result
There is no specific normal or abnormal level of PSA in the blood, and levels may vary over time in the same man. In the past, most doctors considered PSA levels of 4.0 ng/mL and lower as normal. Therefore, if a man had a PSA level above 4.0 ng/mL, doctors would often recommend a prostate biopsy to determine whether prostate cancer was present.
However, more recent studies have shown that some men with PSA levels below 4.0 ng/mL have prostate cancer and that many men with higher levels do not have prostate cancer . In addition, various factors can cause a mans PSA level to fluctuate. For example, a mans PSA level often rises if he has prostatitis or a urinary tract infection. Prostate biopsies and prostate surgery also increase PSA level. Conversely, some drugsincluding finasteride and dutasteride , which are used to treat BPHlower a mans PSA level. PSA level may also vary somewhat across testing laboratories.
Another complicating factor is that studies to establish the normal range of PSA levels have been conducted primarily in populations of White men. Although expert opinions vary, there is no clear consensus regarding the optimal PSA threshold for recommending a prostate biopsy for men of any racial or ethnic group.
In general, however, the higher a mans PSA level, the more likely it is that he has prostate cancer. Moreover, a continuous rise in a mans PSA level over time may also be a sign of prostate cancer.
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Myth: If The Cancer Comes Back It Cant Be Treated Again
Fact: Recurrence of prostate cancer can be wrenching. But just because a cancer comes back doesnt mean you cant reach remission again. What it does mean is that youll likely have to try another approach to treatment.
Your first cancer cure is always the best, says Sartor. But you do have a possibility for cure if it comes back particularly if youve had an initial radical prostatectomy, in which case if you catch early, you can radiate and get a pretty good cure rate.
Sartor adds that one of the reasons he often recommends surgery before radiation is for this reason so that people get a second chance at cure if the cancer comes back and they monitor their condition appropriately.
Lifetime Risk Of Developing Or Dying From Cancer
The lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer refers to the chance a person has, over the course of his or her lifetime , of being diagnosed with or dying from cancer. These risk estimates are one way to measure of how widespread cancer is in the United States.
The following tables list lifetime risks of developing and dying from certain cancers for men and women in the US. The information is from the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database, and is based on incidence and mortality data for the United States from 2014 through 2016, the most recent years for which data are available.
The risk is expressed both in terms of a percentage and as odds.
- For example, the risk that a man will develop cancer pf the pancreas during his lifetime is 1.66%. This means he has about 1 chance in 60 of developing pancreatic cancer .
- Put another way, 1 out of every 60 men in the United States will develop pancreatic cancer during his lifetime.
These numbers are average risks for the overall US population. Your risk may be higher or lower than these numbers, depending on your particular risk factors.
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What Are The Risk Factors For Prostate Cancer
The most important factors that increase the risk of prostate cancer are African American race, a family history of prostate cancer, and increasing age. Black men have a 60% higher risk of prostate cancer than white men and are approximately twice as likely to die of prostate cancer. People with a family history of prostate cancer are at increased risk, and having more than one family member with prostate cancer increases the risk further. Older men have a higher risk of prostate cancer than younger men, with more than 50% of all diagnoses occurring after the age of 65 and 97% occurring after the age of 50. There are also certain genetic syndromes that increase the risk of prostate cancer such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and, as new evidence is suggesting, Lynch Syndrome .
Understanding The Underlying Causes
For cancer researchers in general, were always seeking out the origins. Where does it start, what cells does it start in, how is it co-opting the processes of normal cells to evade the immune system or invade areas where it shouldnt be? says UCLAs Dr. Garraway. Just like other cancers, the whole idea is to understand the biology of the prostate tumors better so you can find the Achilles heel of that tumor.
The challenge, Garraway tells Ars, is that for a long time, research into what causes prostate cancer growth was focused on the indolent versions of the disease that were curable. More surgeries removed slow-growing tumors, leaving researchers with more access to these tissue samples. Metastatic patients were less likely to undergo surgery because their cancers had spread to other parts of their body, so those samples were studied less often.
For those 10 percent or so who are destined to have this metastatic disease, at least half of them already had spreading of their cancer at diagnosis, she says. They werent surgical candidates, so we werent capturing their tissues. And its a challenge to get enough tissue from a metastatic lesion.
Most men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their senior years and only 1 out of 36 men die from it. Death from prostate cancer most often happens when cancer has spread to other organs in the body. This is known as the advanced stage of prostate cancer.
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Deaths From Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer. About 1 man in 41 will die of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer can be a serious disease, but most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it. In fact, more than 3.1 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
American Cancer Society. Facts & Figures 2021. American Cancer Society. Atlanta, Ga. 2021.
National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Prostate Cancer. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html on March 15, 2019.
Noone AM, Howlader N, Krapcho M, Miller D, Brest A, Yu M, Ruhl J, Tatalovich Z, Mariotto A, Lewis DR, Chen HS, Feuer EJ, Cronin KA . SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2015, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2015/, based on November 2017 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, April 2018.
American Cancer Society. Facts & Figures 2021. American Cancer Society. Atlanta, Ga. 2021.
National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Prostate Cancer. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html on March 15, 2019.
Last Revised: January 12, 2021
Is Prostate Cancer Genetic
Between 5 and 20 percent of prostate cancer cases are inherited. Researchers estimate that if a man has one close relative, such as a father or brother with the condition, his risk of developing prostate cancer is doubled. If a man has two close relatives with the condition, his risk increases five-fold.4,5
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Symptoms Of Prostate Problems
Listed below are some symptoms that are usually caused by benign disease, not prostate cancer. So do not worry if you have any of these symptoms, but do go to your doctor to have them checked as there are treatments that can help to reduce or eradicate these symptoms.
- Difficulty or pain in passing urine
- Having to rush to the toilet to pass urine
- Frequent visits to the toilet, especially at night
- Starting and stopping while urinating
- Dribbling urine
- A feeling of not having emptied the bladder fully
Sometimes, the following things can also be symptoms of prostate cancer.
- Blood in the urine or semen.
- Back pain, pelvis pain, or hip pain.
- Difficulty getting or keeping an erection.
- Unexplained weight loss.
It is important to note that prostate cancer often has no symptoms.
Prostate Cancer In New Zealand Men
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Kiwi men. Every year nearly 4000 men are diagnosed and about 650 die from the disease the third highest cause of death after lung and bowel cancers.
Mori men have a slightly lower incidence of prostate cancer but have a higher death rate than other New Zealand men. The reasons for this may be a later diagnosis or treatment choices offered to them.
Overall, the number of men diagnosed in New Zealand is increasing, largely due to increased rates of testing and the death rate is slowly dropping, largely due to better outcomes from early diagnosis and improved treatments available.
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What Is The Outlook For Prostate Cancer
The good news is, rates of prostate cancer have dropped considerably in the United States. The National Cancer Institute reports that in 1992 there were 234 new cases for every 100,000 Americans now that figure is under 100 per 100,000. Overall, the American Cancer Society projects 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer in 2018 and 29,430 deaths. From a male US population of 161 million, thats a tiny .02 percent chance of dying from prostate cancer in a given year. Of course, the figures change as you narrow the population based on factors like age, and risk factors like smoking, being overweight and not getting proper exercise. The ACS estimates that 1 in 9 American males will be diagnosed in their lifetime with prostate cancer, and 1 in 41 will die of the disease.
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Are Older Men Undertreated
Schwartz and colleagues reviewed the treatment decisions and factors influencing them in a cohort of men with localized prostate cancer. Age, comorbidity, and Gleason score were found to be independent predictors of suboptimal treatment. It was concluded that most men older than 70 years with moderately or poorly differentiated tumors and no to mild comorbidity were given suboptimal treatment. Most of these men were undertreated, receiving watchful waiting therapy when potentially curative therapy could have been applied. With optimal treatment, clinical outcomes could have been improved.
Thompson and colleagues investigated otherwise healthy octogenarians diagnosed with prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy. At the last follow-up visit, 10 patients had survived more than a decade after surgery, and 3 patients had died within 10 years of surgery. The remaining 6 patients were alive at less than 10 years of follow-up. Seventy-four percent of patients were continent. No patient had died of prostate cancer, and the 10-year, all-cause survival rate was similar to that observed in healthy patients 60 to 79 years old undergoing radical prostatectomy. These findings indicate that careful selection of patients even older than 80 years can achieve satisfactory oncologic and functional outcomes after surgery. It is important to note, however, that the rate of urinary incontinence after surgery exceeds that of younger counterparts.
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What Is The Prostate
The prostate is a gland. It is usually the size and shape of a walnut and grows bigger as you get older. It sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine out of the body. The prostate’s main job is to help make semen the fluid that carries sperm.
The most common prostate problems are an enlarged prostate, prostatitis and prostate cancer.
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Better Understanding Of Prostate Cancer
We’re using the power of big data, working with partners to analyse and combine data from tens of thousands of men who’ve been diagnosed and treated for different types and stages of prostate cancer. The aim is to find patterns in when the cancers started, how they developed and how aggressive they are. In the future this could help doctors predict how particular prostate cancers are likely to develop so we can choose the most appropriate treatment for each man.
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Prostate Cancer Surgery Wont Boost Survival In Men With Early
Men with early-stage prostate cancer often face a difficult choice as to treatment: Do they opt for radiation, surgery or watchful waiting to see if the cancer gets worse.
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds men who opt to surgically remove their prostate gland a procedure called a radical prostatectomy are no less likely to die than men who choose wait and monitor their symptoms to see if the cancer progresses.
The study adds to the ongoing debate surrounding prostate-specific antigen testing and whether the tests pick up cancers that may be too slow-growing to ever cause a problem.
In May, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of advisors on government medical guidelines, reviewed existing research and reported in its final recommendation that healthy men of all ages should not take a PSA test because the potential harms from a positive test outweigh the benefits from catching the cancer early.
The study tracked 731 men with early-stage prostate cancer found through PSA testing, average age of 67, who agreed to be randomized to either receive radical prostatectomy or just observation from a doctor between November 1994 through January 2002. The men were followed-up with by January 2010 to see how they fared.
The National Cancer Institute has more for men on choosing a treatment for early-stage prostate cancer.