Prostate Cancer Survival Rates in UK

There are approximately 25 000 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the United Kingdom. For these men the risk of dying from their prostate cancer depends on a number of risk factors. For example if the cancer is confined to the prostate gland at diagnosis the chance of surviving to 5 years is 70%. If the cancer has already spread e.g. to the bones then only 20% of men will survive to five years. Of all the men who currently have prostate cancer in the UK approximately 10,000 will die of the disease each year. The prostate cancer survival rate is much higher in the developed world - unsurprisingly.

When a man is first diagnosed with prostate cancer then the doctor who has found the cancer (most often a ?urologist? ? a surgeon who specialises in looking after problems to do with the kidneys, prostate and bladder) will arrange a series of tests to help assess the risk for that individual patient. The results of these tests will in turn help the doctor and patient to decide the best treatment for that patient.

Prostate Cancer Tests to Help Predict Survival

1. Prostate Specific Antigen or PSA

2. Digital Rectal Examination or DRE

3. Trans-rectal Ultrasound and Biopsy

4. CT or MRI Scan

5. Bone Scan

PSA This is a protein made by the prostate gland which can be measured on a sample of your blood i.e. a blood test. The PSA level can be raised by non cancerous problems with the prostate gland i.e. not all men who have a raised PSA have prostate cancer. Also some men who have prostate cancer will not have a raised PSA. However PSA does tend to increase as prostate cancers grow, invade and spread so PSA can be used to monitor how a prostate cancer is progressing or how it is responding to treatments.

DRE This is where a doctor feels the prostate gland through the back passage. It tells the doctor how big the prostate gland is, whether the cancer is able to be felt easily and whether it has invaded the area near by.

Tran-Rectal Ultrasound and Biopsy For this test you need to lie on your side with your knees brought up into the chest (same position as for a DRE). An ultrasound probe is then inserted into the back passage. This enables the doctor to see on a screen the outline of the prostate gland. There is no radiation involved. The image on the screen then allows the doctor to insert a needle safely into the prostate gland to take some samples of the prostate tissue. Usually several samples are taken from each area of the prostate gland. These samples are then sent to a laboratory to be looked at under a microscope. This allows confirmation that there is prostate cancer present and tells us how aggressive the cancer looks. Sometimes a local anaesthetic is used to help make the procedure more comfortable.

CT or MRI Scan This is usually carried out in an x-ray department and involves lying still on a thin couch which moves through either a big donut (CT) or into a long tunnel (MRI). This is not painful in any way. The pictures gained from this test helps the doctors to see whether the prostate cancer is still within the prostate gland or whether it had started to invade out of the gland into other surrounding structures. This tells the doctor what ?stage? the prostate cancer is.

Bone Scan This requires you to have an injection and then to lie on a special table where a camera scans the whole body. It shows up whether any of the bones in the body have been affected by the prostate cancer i.e. whether the prostate cancer has spread to the bones.

Prostate Cancer Stage and Survival

The stage of prostate cancer describes how far the cancer has grown and spread. It is assessed by a mixture of DRE and CT/MRI scans.

T1 Stage This is very early prostate cancer which can only be seen under a microscope. At this stage the cancer would not cause any symptoms. Men with this stage are at low risk from their disease may not need any treatment but surveillance. The original cause of a prostate cancer problem can be difficult to diagnose.

T2 Stage This is early prostate cancer but is now big enough to be felt by a doctor on DRE. This may still not have caused any symptoms. This is most often cured if treatment is undertaken at this stage and about 70% of men are still alive after 5 years i.e. average length of survival from diagnosis is well over 5 years.

T3 Stage This is locally advanced prostate cancer which has started to extend and invade outside of the prostate gland. This stage would often cause bladder symptoms in men. By this stage in the disease the chance of cure with treatments is reduced however survival is often around five years.

T4 Stage This is more advanced prostate cancer which invades the structures around the gland. At this stage there are often already secondaries e.g. bone metastases. If the disease has spread it is usually incurable but may be controlled for some time. The average survival is between 1 and 3 years.

Predicting Survival in Prostate Cancer

Doctors use a combination of risk factors to predict the behaviour of prostate cancer but cancers do not always act as expected. The factors they consider include the cancer stage (see above), the age of the patient, the PSA level and how quickly it is rising, and the Gleason Score. The Gleason score is a marker of how aggressive the cancer looks under the microscope and how much of the gland is affected by cancer.

Adrian Jones has a personal interest in promoting awareness and self-help in dealing with several forms of cancer. This article is from his website dealing with prostate cancer and prostate cancer treatments. He writes on other forms of cancer, including colon cancer. This article is available for reprint for your website and/or newsletter, provided that you maintain its copyright integrity and include this resource box information.

Prostate and Colon Cancer: Secrets to Healing and Understanding

This article will tackle the cause of two pandemic forms of cancer, cancer of the prostate and colon cancer. Scientists have determined that prostate cancer is an epidemic so vast that nearly one autopsy in two of older men reveals the presence of this cancer. Fortunately, this cancer is usually so slow growing that most men die of other causes, even as the cancer grows slowly within the prostate gland. Yet deaths by prostate cancer and the debilitating effects of prostate surgery still affect thousands of families today. In addition, nonmalignant enlargement of the prostate afflicts millions of American men with such symptoms as painful and frequent urination. As a therapist who specializes in discovering the underlying causes of disease, I have discovered, once again, the reasons for this pandemic can be found in the cultural habits of our society.

First, let?s ask the obvious question: what is the prostate?s job in a healthy individual? Although prostate conditions including cancer usually show up as problems with urination, the prostate gland is mainly about sex. The prostate?s job is to mix sperm with its own liquid secretions to produce semen, then through contractions associated with male orgasm, it propels this semen into the penis. When I have worked with men who have any prostrate condition I nearly always find that these men feel subconsciously frustrated and often guilty about their sexual behavior. Each case has unique elements. Therefore I will not claim that it is always one particular feeling or trauma. But my experience is that it always is about sex.

One client feels guilty about years of being unfaithful to his wives. Another feels remorse over years of visiting prostitutes, and having meaningless sex. Still another feels badly that he had sex with a wife he didn?t really love. So far I have not met any man whose prostate is complaining because it didn?t get enough sex. While I can?t rule out this possibility, it seems that wasting of one?s procreative life force is the issue which is locked into the prostates of most of my clients. (Incidentally, I always use open ended questions, and never use direct suggestion or leading questions in my work with cancer patients in order to minimize the influence of my own beliefs on the subconscious minds of my clients. In addition, when I began this research, I had no clue as to what might be found in the prostates of my clients)

This discovery of loose sexual behavior among the vast majority of my prostate clients is consistent with the ?sexual revolution? of the 1970s, in which sex went from being a form of recreation reserved exclusively for married couples, at least theoretically, to becoming a free for all. The Playboy philosophy, birth control, and the hippie and women?s lib movements combined to create unprecedented opportunities for men and women alike to spread their seeds to the four winds. While I too had the chance to celebrate and enjoy this new freedom, it is our prostate glands, concerned with such ?obsolete? concepts as romantic love, families, and children that I have discovered are in rebellion among so many men today.

As a hypnotherapist it is my job to listen to this prostate gland in a way that the client has never done. Indeed most clients are shocked to discover this throwback to conservative values living inside their bodies. Sometimes tears of remorse, dedication to a new lifestyle, even acts of atonement performed for women can help heal this condition. At other times, committing oneself to seeking a loving partner, even to reaching out to ones lost or grown children has proved valuable. I really don?t know what my client?s prostate needs to heal itself ... but fortunately that prostate always does.

Another kind of cancer epidemic is colon cancer. Well, it doesn?t take a rocket scientist to figure out the why of this epidemic either. We know that the colon is the place where waste is produced, and the water we need is pulled out. I have occasionally found unprocessed waste emotions in the colon, including anger, of which the client is often in denial. One client of mine who suffered severe ulcerative colitis screamed at me in a purple faced rage ?Damn it! I am NOT angry!!? when I attempted to point out, very politely, what I was feeling from him. Even residual traumas from toilet training can be found in there sometimes.

But the culturally common causes of colon cancer I have found is connected to the diet and lifestyle choices pursued by most Americans. All of these eating habits have been scientifically proven to have debilitating effects on the colon: large amounts of animal fat in the diet, too much melted cheese and white flour products, all of which stick like glue to the colon walls, where they rot and produce inflammation, too little vegetable fiber, including the raw roughage like lettuce and carrots that clean the colon like a bottle brush, and too little water. (okay, how many of you really drink the 8 glasses a day minimum recommended by doctors?) Also critically dangerous to the colon is our lifestyle choice of sitting for most of every day on our sedentary butts. Remember that as a species homo sapiens evolved to spend many hours every day in physical movement.

So any proposed solution to this epidemic requires a radical revision of our diet and lifestyle. Fortunately the services of a clinical nutritionist and hypnotherapist can be combined to make the transition to a healthy diet and lifestyle much easier. Hypnosis can help build motivation for exercise and can help strengthen our new dietary choices. It can also help uncover and heal the emotions that are stored in the colon. Combined with the latest in medical treatments, such methods offer far more promise for recovery than we could have hoped for 20 years ago.

If you or someone you know wants help in addressing the underlying cause of their cancer, visit http://FountainofYouthHypnosis.com and sign up to get a free MP3 download (worth $10) of a Self-Hypnosis Guided Visualization Journey to meet your "Inner Healer" and a coupon good for $100 hypnotherapy phone consultation or office visit. Get all of this plus a free series of instructive articles on improving physical health, healing injuries, resolving anxiety, phobias, depression and help with breaking addictions to cigarettes, food, alcohol or drugs.

Prostate and Colon Cancer: Secrets to Healing and Understanding

This article will tackle the cause of two pandemic forms of cancer, cancer of the prostate and colon cancer. Scientists have determined that prostate cancer is an epidemic so vast that nearly one autopsy in two of older men reveals the presence of this cancer. Fortunately, this cancer is usually so slow growing that most men die of other causes, even as the cancer grows slowly within the prostate gland. Yet deaths by prostate cancer and the debilitating effects of prostate surgery still affect thousands of families today. In addition, nonmalignant enlargement of the prostate afflicts millions of American men with such symptoms as painful and frequent urination. As a therapist who specializes in discovering the underlying causes of disease, I have discovered, once again, the reasons for this pandemic can be found in the cultural habits of our society.

First, let?s ask the obvious question: what is the prostate?s job in a healthy individual? Although prostate conditions including cancer usually show up as problems with urination, the prostate gland is mainly about sex. The prostate?s job is to mix sperm with its own liquid secretions to produce semen, then through contractions associated with male orgasm, it propels this semen into the penis. When I have worked with men who have any prostrate condition I nearly always find that these men feel subconsciously frustrated and often guilty about their sexual behavior. Each case has unique elements. Therefore I will not claim that it is always one particular feeling or trauma. But my experience is that it always is about sex.

One client feels guilty about years of being unfaithful to his wives. Another feels remorse over years of visiting prostitutes, and having meaningless sex. Still another feels badly that he had sex with a wife he didn?t really love. So far I have not met any man whose prostate is complaining because it didn?t get enough sex. While I can?t rule out this possibility, it seems that wasting of one?s procreative life force is the issue which is locked into the prostates of most of my clients. (Incidentally, I always use open ended questions, and never use direct suggestion or leading questions in my work with cancer patients in order to minimize the influence of my own beliefs on the subconscious minds of my clients. In addition, when I began this research, I had no clue as to what might be found in the prostates of my clients)

This discovery of loose sexual behavior among the vast majority of my prostate clients is consistent with the ?sexual revolution? of the 1970s, in which sex went from being a form of recreation reserved exclusively for married couples, at least theoretically, to becoming a free for all. The Playboy philosophy, birth control, and the hippie and women?s lib movements combined to create unprecedented opportunities for men and women alike to spread their seeds to the four winds. While I too had the chance to celebrate and enjoy this new freedom, it is our prostate glands, concerned with such ?obsolete? concepts as romantic love, families, and children that I have discovered are in rebellion among so many men today.

As a hypnotherapist it is my job to listen to this prostate gland in a way that the client has never done. Indeed most clients are shocked to discover this throwback to conservative values living inside their bodies. Sometimes tears of remorse, dedication to a new lifestyle, even acts of atonement performed for women can help heal this condition. At other times, committing oneself to seeking a loving partner, even to reaching out to ones lost or grown children has proved valuable. I really don?t know what my client?s prostate needs to heal itself ... but fortunately that prostate always does.

Another kind of cancer epidemic is colon cancer. Well, it doesn?t take a rocket scientist to figure out the why of this epidemic either. We know that the colon is the place where waste is produced, and the water we need is pulled out. I have occasionally found unprocessed waste emotions in the colon, including anger, of which the client is often in denial. One client of mine who suffered severe ulcerative colitis screamed at me in a purple faced rage ?Damn it! I am NOT angry!!? when I attempted to point out, very politely, what I was feeling from him. Even residual traumas from toilet training can be found in there sometimes.

But the culturally common causes of colon cancer I have found is connected to the diet and lifestyle choices pursued by most Americans. All of these eating habits have been scientifically proven to have debilitating effects on the colon: large amounts of animal fat in the diet, too much melted cheese and white flour products, all of which stick like glue to the colon walls, where they rot and produce inflammation, too little vegetable fiber, including the raw roughage like lettuce and carrots that clean the colon like a bottle brush, and too little water. (okay, how many of you really drink the 8 glasses a day minimum recommended by doctors?) Also critically dangerous to the colon is our lifestyle choice of sitting for most of every day on our sedentary butts. Remember that as a species homo sapiens evolved to spend many hours every day in physical movement.

So any proposed solution to this epidemic requires a radical revision of our diet and lifestyle. Fortunately the services of a clinical nutritionist and hypnotherapist can be combined to make the transition to a healthy diet and lifestyle much easier. Hypnosis can help build motivation for exercise and can help strengthen our new dietary choices. It can also help uncover and heal the emotions that are stored in the colon. Combined with the latest in medical treatments, such methods offer far more promise for recovery than we could have hoped for 20 years ago.

If you or someone you know wants help in addressing the underlying cause of their cancer, visit http://FountainofYouthHypnosis.com and sign up to get a free MP3 download (worth $10) of a Self-Hypnosis Guided Visualization Journey to meet your "Inner Healer" and a coupon good for $100 hypnotherapy phone consultation or office visit. Get all of this plus a free series of instructive articles on improving physical health, healing injuries, resolving anxiety, phobias, depression and help with breaking addictions to cigarettes, food, alcohol or drugs.