Cancer Center - Video Introduction

However, with screening tests, doctors have a better chance of finding prostate cancer when it is in the early stages. Symptoms of prostate cancer may occur in the later stages of the disease after the tumor has become very large or has spread to other parts of the body. With late stage prostate cancer, you may experience pain when urinating, difficulty beginning to urinate, blood in your urine, a constant feeling that you need to urinate, or a desire to urinate more often, especially in the middle of the night. Late stage prostate cancer can also cause bone pain, especially in your back.

There is also a common enlargement of the prostate gland that happens with age.

This is called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH. It can produce the same symptoms as late stage prostate cancer. This enlargement has nothing to do with cancer, but you should still see your doctor to help manage this condition. What if my screening tests suggest that there may be a tumor in my prostate? Probably the doctor will want to take a very small sample of your prostate to examine under a microscope. This is called a biopsy. How is the doctor going to do this? He will give a shot to numb the area around your rectum to make the procedure less painful. Then a second long, thin wire will be used to extract a sample from the prostate to be examined. If the examination shows cancer, the doctor may suggest other tests to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of your body.