How to find reliable prostate cancer resources

A prostate cancer diagnosis can be a life-altering event. It can be traumatic for the patient and their entire family. The diagnosis is just the first step in a very long journey that brings enormous challenges. When it comes to information, one needs dependable prostate cancer resources during and after the process of treatment and rehabilitation to help them cope with the situation.

Dealing with prostate cancer requires physical, financial, and emotional support and resources. It’s important to get the latest, most reliable, convenient, and cost-effective prostate cancer resources available. Information is the key to feeling in control, making better treatment decisions, accessing financial support available from various agencies, and ensuring that the family gets enough support to help them tide over the fear, anxiety, and pain.

What is prostate cancer?

• It’s cancer that arises in the prostate gland, a small gland in the male reproductive system.
• This is a common cancer in men that is not life-threatening if diagnosed and treated early.
• It’s slow-growing and usually stays confined to the prostate gland, but there are different types that may pose a threat to other organs.
• The survival rate is almost 99% with the right treatment and early intervention.
• It is a treatable and manageable condition.
• Classification and grading of the type and stage of cancer are important to determine the aggressiveness of the disease.
• Risk factors include age above 50, direct relatives like father or brother diagnosed with prostate cancer, and certain ethnic groups.

What are the signs/symptoms and tests?

• Slow growth means a relatively late diagnosis.
• Symptoms are problems with starting and flow of urination, urge to urinate frequently, and a feeling that the bladder has not emptied fully.
• Back, hip, and pelvic pain.
• Sexual dysfunction.
• Blood in semen/urine.
• Sudden weight loss .
• Tests include a digital rectal exam, prostate-specific antigen tests, imaging tests like bone-scan, MRI, CT, Transrectal ultrasound, and removal of tissue for biopsy.

What are the different types and stages?

• TNM (Tumor, Nodes, Metastasis) evaluation to gauge the growth and spread of cancer.
• Typing provides information about the origin of the cancer cells, that is, gland cells, duct cells, or cells lining the urinary tract.
• The stages of cancer include stage 1, where cancer is localized to the prostate gland only, stage 2, where though it remains localized, the cell-type indicates whether it will spread faster or not, stage 3, where cancer has spread to the nearby seminal vesicles, and stage 4, which indicates spreading to distant parts of the body, including lungs, lymph nodes, bones, and bladder.

What kind of support should one get?

• One’s doctor and hospital can provide the best information and education.
• While it’s wise to keep oneself informed, confusion/stress by getting information-obsessed should be avoided.
• Information overloading should also be avoided.
• One should seek prostate cancer resources to help them in practical ways: financial, emotional, and medical.
• Find good counseling. Oncology social workers provide the right emotional support to help one deal with the emotional changes.
• This helps one face the problem, better understand cancer treatments , manage moods, depression, anxiety, and communicate their feelings.
• Find better ways to cope with personal relationships.
• Cancer helplines can provide immediate and relatively anonymous support.
• Check with the doctor/hospital for financial support. Cancer treatments are expensive and lengthy.
• Private and public assistance is available.
• Local and national databases, insurance navigation services, care for the uninsured, employee benefits, help with funding for medications, charity organizations, industry-sponsored patient assistance programs, help with accommodation and transportation during and after treatment, career assistance, legal resources, and community aid are available.

What are the best prostate cancer resources on research in this field?

• Prostate cancer research papers and publications are available from many sources.
• Ensure that you consult only reliable, reputed, and well-established resources.
• At the annual 2017 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, several new areas were reported.
• Clinical trials with new-era drugs like abiraterone show promising results in metastatic types.
• Reassessment of genetic protocols is essential, as there is a strong familial component in prostate cancer.
• Other areas of research include exploring links between lifestyle and nutrition, and the development of prostate cancer, targeted surgery techniques, shorter radiation-therapy schedules, etc.
• Important sources of information include websites of the American Cancer Society, Cancer.Net, National Cancer Institute, Cancer Support Community, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and EmergingMed.