The most recent report available on cancer mortality shows that, in 2004, the overall death rate from prostate cancer among American men was 25 per 100,000. Since 1994, this rate has decreased by four percent each year, and, in 2004, there were an estimated 2 million prostate cancer survivors in the United States.
Prostate Cancer
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a benign growth of prostate cells. It is not cancer. The prostate grows larger and squeezes the urethra. This prevents the normal flow of urine. BPH is a very common problem. In the United States, most men over the age of 50 have symptoms of BPH. For some men, the symptoms may be severe enough to need treatment.
One of the biggest problems now facing men with prostate cancer and their doctors is figuring out which cancers are likely to stay within the gland and which are more likely to grow and spread (and definitely need treatment). New discoveries may help with this some time in the near future. For example, the product of one gene identified by DNA microarray, known as EZH2, seems to appear more often in advanced prostate cancers than in those at an early stage. Researchers are now trying to decide whether the presence of this gene product, or others, indicates that a cancer is more aggressive. This could eventually help tell which men need treatment and which might be better served by watchful waiting.
