Lance A. Mynderse - Mayo Clinic Essential Guide to Prostate Health: What to do about Prostate Enlargement, Inflammation and Cancer

Mayo Clinic Essential Guide to Prostate Health provides reliable information on managing prostate conditions. Much of the information comes from the experience of urologists, radiologists, oncologists and other health care professionals at Mayo Clinic. This book supplements the advice of your physician, whom you should consult for individual medical problems. Mayo Clinic Essential Guide to Prostate Health does not endorse any company or product. MAYO, MAYO CLINIC, MAYO CLINIC HEALTH SOLUTIONS and the Mayo triple-shield logo are marks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

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2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

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Lance A. Mynderse, M.D.

Medical Editor-in-Chief

For many adult males, the health concerns associated with prostate disease may be their first contact ever with a physician or, for that matter, with medical care. About 35 percent of men over age 50 will experience an inflammatory condition of the prostate known as prostatitis. Over 50 percent of men over age 60 will feel the discomfort of an enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Finally, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in American men.

Despite these sobering facts, prostate cancer, as well as other forms of prostate disease, is often easily treated, and the outlook for management, cure and survival is excellent. Advances in research, more sophisticated imaging technology and new medical procedures have enabled a much earlier diagnosis of prostate disease and more personalized treatment, reducing recovery time and avoiding many troublesome side effects.

This book will guide you, along with your spouse or significant other, through the decision process you may face as you work with your doctor to treat, manage and possibly cure prostate disease. The key to a good outcome is to educate yourself and to be involved with your doctor at an early stage to address your health concerns.

The more you know about prostate disease, the greater are your chances of identifying problems, making good decisions about treatment options and maintaining a high quality of life. Urologists, as key advocates for mens health, are in a position to educate, guide and assist all men with an individual-centered approach to the management of their health needs.

About the prostate

Getting a prostate checkup

Imaging techniques for the prostate

Prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain

Understanding benign prostatic hyperplasia

Treating benign prostatic hyperplasia

Learning you have cancer

Treatment options for prostate cancer

When cancer is advanced

Coping with complications

Getting on with life

Can you prevent prostate disease?

Complementary and alternative therapies

T he prostate gland can cause some of the most common health problems that men face, and cancer of the prostate is among the most feared. Thats because prostate cancer, like breast cancer for women, often strikes at the core of human sexuality.

Beyond fear of cancer itself are the possible consequences of treatment issues with bladder control (incontinence) and the inability to have an erection (erectile dysfunction). These problems can be as difficult to deal with as the cancer, eroding self-confidence and evoking feelings of lost masculinity.

But theres reason for optimism. If caught early, prostate cancer often can be successfully treated and cured. Improved medical practice is reducing the risks of incontinence and erectile dysfunction. When these complications occur, treatment may limit their effects.

Its also important to understand that cancer isnt the only prostate problem. Inflammation and benign enlargement of the prostate are other common developments. Unlike cancer, these problems generally arent life-threatening, but without treatment, they can become debilitating and painful.