Have you ever thought about Prostate Cancer? If you haven't maybe you should. It is the most common type of cancer for a man to contract. So far in 2006, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has documented around 250,000 cases of prostate cancer in the United States. The ACS has also documented around 30,000 deaths this year alone from it. Prostate cancer is a group of cancerous cells that form a tumor in the prostate gland. The tumor usually starts out in the outer layer of the prostate.

If left untreated, prostate cancer can spread to other parts of the body such as: bones, other internal organs, or lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are structures that are part of the immune system, which filter the blood with the help of plasma and white blood cells. The spread of cancer cells from its original location to other part of the body is referred to as metastasis. Testosterone (the male hormone) can enhance the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Currently, there is no specified cause of prostate cancer; although many risk factors have been identified. The biggest risk factor is increased age. More than 70% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are over the age of sixty-five. The second biggest risk factor is family history. Men who have had a family history of prostate cancer are about ten to fifteen more times likely to contract it than those who haven't. The third biggest risk factor is ethnic background. African-American men have around a 60% higher chance of getting prostate cancer than Caucasian (white) men. Also twice as many African-Americans die from it than Caucasians. Other risk factors include being obese and having bad dietary habits.

Men who are age fifty and older should have a doctor do blood tests and a Digital Rectal Examination done once a year to check for prostate cancer. If you are diagnosed with it, there are several treatment options available. The first option is surgery. One type is a Radical Prostatectomy, which is the removal of the whole prostate gland and any nearby tissues. The other type is Cryosurgery, which is the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze and kill prostate cancer cells.

Another treatment option is radiation. External radiation can be beamed at the patient from a machine or internal radiation can be implanted in the prostate gland in the form of tiny radioactive seeds. Another treatment option is hormonal therapy, which is reducing testosterone levels to lower the growth rate of the cancerous cells. There is Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone (LH-RH) Agonists therapy, which decreases the amount of testosterone produced by the testicles (the male reproductive organs). An Orchiectomy (a removal of the testicles) can be performed. There is also Anti-androgen therapy, which blocks the body's ability to use male hormones. The last treatment is Chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells that rapidly grow. All of these treatments have side effects; ask your doctor which is right for you.

Vitamin Depot Online.com offers A Primer on Prostate Cancer, a 368 page book that is full of suggestions topics for prostate cancer. All of the items in this book were designed to help men strategize for successful management of prostate cancer and have come from either medical professionals or individuals who have personally dealt with prostate cancer.