September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Prostate cancer education is vital all year-round. But, the month of September focuses on awareness

While prostate cancer education is vital all year-round, the month of September is named Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. It's a time of year when cancer patients, health care experts, and caregivers invest their time in an extra effort to raise awareness about prostate cancer. The target of this campaign is to educate those at risk.

As stated by the American Cancer Society, an average of one in every eight women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  With men, the numbers are even grimmer: one in every seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. These statistics mean that more men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer than women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. And for men, those numbers climb up to:

1 in 5 for African-American men

1 in 3 for those with a family history of Prostate Cancer

Most people are surprisingly unfamiliar with where the prostate is, or what it functions in the organism. In fact, surveys had shown how many middle-aged American men don't even know they have one. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among men, and there are often no symptoms. Every year, about 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed. There is good news in all of this: most prostate cancer is preventable with proper and timely screening. A simple blood test is all that is needed.

What is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is the development of cancer in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Prostate cancer symptoms might go unnoticed in the early stages of the disease and can vary from a person to person.

What’s the Difference Between Prostate and Testicular Cancer?

Prostate cancer occurs in the prostate gland. The prostate gland produces the fluid that carries the semen. Tumors on this gland are often slow-growing and highly treatable. However, patients sometimes experience no symptoms until cancer has already spread. This means that early detection is crucial for eventual treatment and recovery. Treatments for prostate cancer include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation.

When compared with other types of cancer, testicular cancer is rare and also highly treatable. Testicular cancer occurs in the testicles, which are located inside the scrotum, a loose bag of skin located underneath the penis. The function of the testicles is to produce male sex hormones and sperm for reproduction. The most common first symptom of testicular cancer is a painless lump on or in a testicle.

Screening tests are very important in the early detection of this disease. Screenings include having a health provider check a man’s testicles during a routine physical exam, as well as self-exams at home. It is recommended that all men examine their testicles monthly after puberty, and immediately see a doctor in case they feel a lump in a testicle.