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Prostate Overview:
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The prostate is a male reproductive organ which helps make and store seminal fluid which is necessary for reproduction. In an adult male, a typical prostate is about three centimeters long and weighs about twenty grams. It is located in the pelvis, under the urinary bladder and in front of the rectum. The prostate surrounds part of the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder during urination and semen during
ejaculation. The urethra runs through the center of the prostate like a core through an apple. Because of its location, prostate diseases often affect urination, ejaculation, or defecation. The prostate contains many small glands which make about twenty percent of the fluid comprising semen. In prostate cancer the cells of these prostate glands mutate into cancer cells. The prostate glands require male hormones, known as androgens, to work properly. Androgens include testosterone, which is made in the testes; dehydroepiandrosterone, made in the adrenal glands; and dihydrotestosterone, made in the prostate itself. Androgens are also responsible for secondary sex characteristics such as facial hair and increased muscle mass. The prostate has multiple functions to perform and is sensitive to many signals coming from various parts of the body. The prostate will grow as a male ages and in some will show signs of obstruction of the urethra. The symptoms most people identify with prostatic problems are decreased force of urine stream, frequent and urgent urination, having to get up at night to urinate, dribbling of urine after the bladder is emptied, and in severe cases, inability to urinate at all. These symptoms are known by various names: BPH, benign prostatic hyperplasia (or hypertrophy) or LUTS: lower urinary tract symptoms. Cancer of the prostate is by some estimates the most common cancer among American men. One in six men over age 50 will develop prostate cancer and as an individual ages, his chance of developing cancer increases. |