About
Prostate Cancer
Prostate
cancer is the most common cancer in American men.
By age 50, up to 1 in 4 men may have some
cancerous cells in the prostate gland. By age 80,
the ratio increases to 1 in 2. As you age, your
risk of prostate cancer increases. Unlike other
cancers, you are more likely to die with prostate
cancer than you are to die of it. An American man
has about a 30 percent risk of having prostate
cancer, but only about a 3 percent risk of dying
of the disease.
The
good news is that if prostate cancer is detected
early — when it is still confined to the
prostate gland — there is a better chance of
successful treatment with minimal or short-term
side effects. Curing cancer that has spread beyond
the prostate gland is more difficult. But
treatments exist that can help control the cancer.
