What is the Prostate?

Early-stage prostate cancer means that cancer cells are found only in your prostate gland. Compared with many other cancers, prostate cancer tends to grow more slowly. This means that it can take 10 to 30 years before a tumor gets big enough to be found or cause problems (or symptoms). Older men who have prostate cancer often die of something else, not of prostate cancer.

• Prostate cancer is most often diagnosed in men 65 and older, although younger men can be diagnosed with it as well.
• By age 80, more than half of all men have some cancer in their prostate.
• African American men tend to be diagnosed at younger ages with more aggressive prostate cancer than men of other races.

Today, prostate cancer is most often found in earlier stages. There are a number of treatment options available.

What is the Prostate?

The prostate is a small gland in a man's reproductive system. It helps make semen - the milky fluid that carries sperm from the testicles through the penis when a man ejaculates.

The prostate is about the size and shape of a walnut. It lies low in the pelvis, below the bladder and in front of the rectum. The prostate also encircles part of the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the bladder and through the penis.