Symptoms of Prostate Cancer

What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

During the early stages of prostate cancer there are usually no symptoms. Most men at this stage find out they have prostate cancer after a routine check up or blood test. When symptoms do exist, they are usually one or more of the following:

• The patient urinates more often
• The patient gets up at night more often to urinate
• He may find it hard to start urinating
• He may find it hard to keep urinating once he has started
• There may be blood in the urine
• Urination might be painful
• Ejaculation may be painful (less common)
• Achieving or maintaining an erection may be difficult (less common)

If the prostate cancer is advanced the following symptoms are also possible:

• Bone pain, often in the spine (vertebrae), pelvis, or ribs
• The proximal part of the femur can be painful
• Leg weakness (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord)
• Urinary incontinence (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord)
• Fecal incontinence (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord)

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Recurrent and Metastatic Breast Cancer

I know you really don't want to be here, reading about breast cancer recurrence or metastasis. If you've had breast cancer, the possibility of recurrence and spread (metastasis) of breast cancer stays with you. You may be here because you fear this possibility. Or you may be here because it's already happened.

Keep in mind that a recurrence of breast cancer or metastatic (advanced) disease is NOT hopeless. Many women continue to live long, productive lives with breast cancer in this stage. It is also likely that your experience with treatment this time will be somewhat different from last time. There are so many options for your care and so many ways to chart your progress as you move through diagnosis, treatment, and beyond.

Because there are so many options, this is a long section. You may want to read just a few pages at a time. You might find it very difficult to concentrate, think straight, and remember what you've read. That's natural when you're anxious, uncertain, overwhelmed. We'll do our best to help you find what you're looking for.

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Phyllodes Tumors of the Breast

Phyllodes tumors of the breast are rare, accounting for less than 1% of all breast tumors. The name "phyllodes," which is taken from the Greek language and means "leaflike," refers to that fact that the tumor cells grow in a leaflike pattern. Other names for these tumors are phylloides tumor and cystosarcoma phyllodes. Phyllodes tumors tend to grow quickly, but they rarely spread outside the breast.

Although most phyllodes tumors are benign (not cancerous), some are malignant (cancerous) and some are borderline (in between noncancerous and cancerous). All three kinds of phyllodes tumors tend to grow quickly, and they require surgery to reduce the risk of a phyllodes tumor coming back in the breast (local recurrence).

Phyllodes tumors can occur at any age, but they tend to develop when a woman is in her 40s. Benign phyllodes tumors are usually diagnosed at a younger age than malignant phyllodes tumors. Phyllodes tumors are extremely rare in men.

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Paget's Disease of the Nipple

Paget's disease of the nipple is a rare form of breast cancer in which cancer cells collect in or around the nipple. The cancer usually affects the ducts of the nipple first (small milk-carrying tubes), then spreads to the nipple surface and the areola (the dark circle of skin around the nipple). The nipple and areola often become scaly, red, itchy, and irritated.

According to the National Cancer Institute, Paget's disease of the nipple accounts for less than 5% of all breast cancer cases in the United States. Being aware of the symptoms is important, given that more than 97% of people with Paget's disease also have cancer, either DCIS or invasive cancer, somewhere else in the breast. The unusual changes in the nipple and areola are often the first indication that breast cancer is present.

Doctors are not yet completely sure how Paget's disease develops. One possibility is that the cancer cells start growing inside the milk ducts within the breast and then make their way out to the nipple surface. This would appear to explain why so many people with Paget's disease of the nipple have a second area of cancer within the breast. Another theory is that the cells of the nipple itself become cancerous. This theory would explain the small number of people who: (1) only have Paget's disease in the nipple, or (2) have a second breast cancer that appears to be completely separate from the Paget's disease.

Paget's disease of the nipple is more common in women, but like other forms of breast cancer, it can also affect men. The disease usually develops after age 50. According to the National Cancer Institute, the average age of diagnosis in women is 62, and in men, 69. In this section you can read about:

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Male Breast Cancer

Breast cancer in men is a rare disease. Less than 1% of all breast cancers occur in men. In 2011, about 2,140 men were diagnosed with the disease. For men, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.

You may be thinking: Men don't have breasts, so how can they get breast cancer? The truth is that boys and girls, men and women all have breast tissue. The various hormones in girls' and women's bodies stimulate the breast tissue to grow into full breasts. Boys' and men's bodies normally don't make much of the breast-stimulating hormones. As a result, their breast tissue usually stays flat and small. Still, you may have seen boys and men with medium-sized or big breasts. Usually these breasts are just mounds of fat. But sometimes men can develop real breast gland tissue because they take certain medicines or have abnormal hormone levels.

Because breast cancer in men is rare, few cases are available to study. Most studies of men with breast cancer are very small. But when a number of these small studies are grouped together, we can learn more from them.

The medical experts for Male Breast Cancer are:

• Lisa Attebery, D.O., breast surgeon, assistant professor of surgery, Dept. of Surgery, Cooper University Hospital, The Cancer Institute of Surgery
• Jennifer Harned Adams, Ph.D., Department of Behavioral Science, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
• Marisa Weiss, M.D., breast radiation oncologist, Lankenau Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 1-5% of all breast cancer cases in the United States are inflammatory breast cancers.

Inflammatory breast cancer usually starts with the reddening and swelling of the breast instead of a distinct lump. IBC tends to grow and spread quickly, with symptoms worsening within days or even hours. It’s important to recognize symptoms and seek prompt treatment. Although inflammatory breast cancer is a serious diagnosis, keep in mind that treatments today are better at controlling the disease than they used to be.

The average age at diagnosis for inflammatory breast cancer in the United States is 57 for white women and 52 for African American women. These ages are about 5 years younger than the average ages at diagnosis for other forms of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, inflammatory breast cancer is more common in African American women. A 2008 study found that being overweight makes a person more likely to develop IBC. Like other forms of breast cancer, IBC can also affect men.

The medical experts for Inflammatory Breast Cancer are:

• Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
• Thomas Buchholz, M.D., F.A.C.R.; Professor of Radiation Oncology; Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology; The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

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ILC - Invasive Lobular Carcinoma

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), sometimes called infiltrating lobular carcinoma, is the second most common type of breast cancer after invasive ductal carcinoma (cancer that begins in the milk-carrying ducts and spreads beyond it). According to the American Cancer Society, more than 180,000 women in the United States find out they have invasive breast cancer each year. About 10% of all invasive breast cancers are invasive lobular carcinomas. (About 80% are invasive ductal carcinomas.)

Invasive means that the cancer has “invaded” or spread to the surrounding breast tissues. Lobular means that the cancer began in the milk-producing lobules, which empty out into the ducts that carry milk to the nipple. Carcinoma refers to any cancer that begins in the skin or other tissues that cover internal organs — such as breast tissue. All together, “invasive lobular carcinoma” refers to cancer that has broken through the wall of the lobule and begun to invade the tissues of the breast. Over time, invasive lobular carcinoma can spread to the lymph nodes and possibly to other areas of the body.

Although invasive lobular carcinoma can affect women at any age, it is more common as women grow older. According to the American Cancer Society, about two-thirds of women are 55 or older when they are diagnosed with an invasive breast cancer. ILC tends to occur later in life than invasive ductal carcinoma — the early 60s as opposed to the mid- to late 50s.

Some research has suggested that the use of hormone replacement therapy during and after menopause can increase the risk of ILC.

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