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Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the U.S., and 1 in 8 will be diagnosed in their lifetime. While those odds aren’t great news, there’s a lot of reason for optimism.
Prostate cancer is highly treatable, especially when it’s caught early. When prostate cancer is detected in the early or localized stages, the five-year survival rate is 99%. That’s why there are more than 3.5 million prostate cancer survivors living in the U.S. today.
Taking the time to understand the signs, learning your personal risk and getting screened is the best way to protect your health. That way, your care team can offer the broadest selection of effective treatment options.
Know your personal risk factors.
Prostate cancer doesn’t affect each person the same way. Several risk factors can influence how likely you are to develop it over time. While you can’t control these, knowing about them means you and your doctor can make more informed decisions.
If you’re age 55 to 69, screening is recommended every 2-4 years, and more often if your PSA test results are higher than normal. If you’re at higher risk, screening should begin between age 40 and 45. Additionally, men without high risk factors can get a “baseline PSA” after age 40 to determine if further screening is necessary. Some people have a higher risk than others.
Talk with your doctor about when to begin prostate cancer screening and how often you should be tested. Screening decisions are based on your personal risk factors, previous PSA results, overall health, life expectancy, and preferences.
Factors that increase your risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer include:
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Age: The risk increases after age 40, and most cases are diagnosed in men over age 65
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Race and ethnicity: Prostate cancer affects African American men and those with African heritage at a rate higher than men of other backgrounds, and they are more than twice as likely to die from the disease
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Family history: Having a father or brother with prostate cancer more than doubles your risk
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Genetics: Genetic mutations, such as those in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes or an inherited condition like Lynch syndrome, can raise your risk of cancer
Talk with your doctor and make an informed decision about when to start prostate cancer screening based on your personal risk.
Get screened before prostate cancer symptoms start.
When prostate cancer is first developing, it doesn’t cause any symptoms. That means you can’t rely on physical warning signs to tell you when something’s wrong. By the time something happens that you can notice, the cancer may have already advanced.
That’s why proactive screening is your best tool to spot prostate cancer before symptoms can develop.
Medical experts recommend talking with your doctor about screening based on your personal risk level. A simple blood test checks for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein made in the prostate that can signal problems. An elevated PSA does not automatically indicate cancer. It could be a sign of noncancerous prostate enlargement or inflammation.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Again, it is important to note that the vast majority of prostate cancer has no symptoms at all and should not be confused with signs of a benign enlarged prostate.
When prostate cancer is in advanced stages, it can cause noticeable changes. Warning signs include:
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Changes in urination, such as weak stream or bleeding
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Sudden lower back pain
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Sudden, unintentional weight loss
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Lower extremity swelling
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Visual changes
What happens if you have an elevated PSA?
If an elevated PSA level suggests further evaluation is needed, modern diagnostic tools make the process safer and more accurate than ever.
In-office transperineal prostate biopsy is now performed by all rologic oncologists at MedStar Health. These biopsies have eliminated infection risk associated with transrectal biopsies.
If the biopsy shows aggressive cancer, specialized PSMA PET scans can help determine if the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, making sure each patient gets the treatment needed specifically for their needs. Our teams can also use biomarker profiling to analyze your tumor’s genetic fingerprint, helping select the most effective treatment plan for you.
Advanced, modern treatment options for prostate cancer.
If you're diagnosed with prostate cancer, your care team will evaluate your tumor’s location, size, aggressiveness, and your overall health to design a personalized treatment plan.
Patients considering treatment should meet with both a urologist and a radiation oncologist to understand their options and compare potential side effects. Modern care focuses on eliminating cancer while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible. Both surgery and radiation therapy can affect urinary, bowel, and sexual function, so we make sure treatment decisions are personalized for you.
Depending upon your unique diagnosis, your treatment options may include:
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Active surveillance: Your doctor closely monitors slow growing tumors without intervening right away.
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Minimally invasive robotic surgery: Our experienced surgeons have performed the most robotic prostatectomies in the D.C. region. We’ve pioneered innovative, minimally invasive treatments such as retzius-sparing robotic assisted radical prostatectomy (RS-RARP) to remove the prostate while protecting bladder connections and nerves to safeguard urinary and sexual function.
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Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy is an established treatment that can cure localized prostate cancer without removing the prostate. Radiation oncologists use precise, image-guided treatments to target prostate cancer while limiting exposure to surrounding organs. Options include external beam radiation, such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and proton therapy, as well as internal radiation called brachytherapy. For appropriately selected patients, SBRT can be completed in five treatments. Radiation may be combined with hormone therapy for high-risk, recurring, or metastatic cancer.
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Hormone, chemotherapy, and radiopharmaceutical drugs: For more advanced cancers, systemic, whole-body treatments include hormone therapy to block testosterone, intravenous or oral chemotherapy, and targeted radiopharmaceutical medications that deliver radiation directly to specific cancer proteins.
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Focal therapies: In selected patients, focal therapies such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) or cryoablation use heat or extreme cold to destroy cancer cells. Long-term evidence supporting these approaches is not as established as it is for surgery and radiation therapy.
Your urologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists partner with you to weigh these options and select an approach that balances cancer control, side effects, and your priorities.
We don’t treat the cancer, we treat you.
Navigating prostate cancer care is easier when you have a dedicated team by your side. At MedStar Health, we bring together specialists to review your case and build a customized care plan tailored to your life and goals.
Taking charge of your prostate health can be as simple as starting a conversation. Talk with your doctor about your risk factors and make a plan to get screened when it’s time.
