top of page

About Prostate Cancer

prostate-cancer 1.jpg
cancer-data-scienceLO.jpg

Prostate cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder.

 

Most prostate tumors remain small and cause no health problems. These are managed with active surveillance, monitoring the tumor with regular tests to ensure it has not grown.

 

Tumors more likely to be dangerous can be destroyed with radiation therapy or surgically removed by radical prostatectomy. Those whose cancer spreads beyond the prostate are treated with hormone therapy which reduces levels of the androgens (male sex hormones) that prostate cells need to survive. Eventually cancer cells can grow resistant to this treatment. This most-advanced stage of the disease, called castration-resistant prostate cancer, is treated with continued hormone therapy alongside the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. 

Some tumors metastasize (spread) to other areas of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes. There, tumors cause severe bone pain, leg weakness or paralysis, and eventually death. A prostate cancer prognosis depends on how far the cancer has spread at diagnosis. Most men diagnosed have tumors confined to the prostate. Tumors that have metastasized to distant body sites are most dangerous, with five-year survival rates of 30–40%.

Prostate Cancer Statistics 

  • 34,700 men in US died from prostate cancer in 2023; 350,000+ men died worldwide. 

  • 3.3 million American men are suffering with prostate cancer. (1)  

  • 300,000+ new cases will be diagnosed in 2024 in the US, with 1.5 million+ cases being diagnosed worldwide.

  • 1 in 8 (12.5%) American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. 

  • The risk of developing prostate cancer increases with age; the average age of diagnosis is 67.

  • 1 in 41 men will die from prostate cancer.

  • African American men suffer incidence and mortality rates respectively 1.78 times and 2.2 times greater than Caucasian men. 

  • Military veterans suffer incident and mortality rates similar to African American men. ​

​​

  • An estimated 1.3 million men in the US are presently being overtreated for prostate cancer at a cost of billions of dollars every year.

 

Source: 

(1) Key Statistics for Prostate Cancer. American Cancer Society. Published January 19, 2024. Accessed May 21, 2024.

(2) https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/11/health/prostate-cancer-surveillance-survival/index.html

bottom of page