Changes in toilet habits are red flag signs of a "silent killer".
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, and can affect some trans women, non-binary and intersex people. Roughly 52,000 people are diagnosed with the condition in the UK each year, and 12,000 die, according to Cancer Research UK.
Survival has tripled in the last 40 years, and early detection is key for successfully treating prostate cancer. Diagnosed at its earliest stage, everyone survives with prostate cancer for five years or more, compared with less than half when it's diagnosed at the latest stage. But symptoms are difficult to spot.
READ MORE: Mum shed five stone and dumped husband after realisation on girls' holiday
The cancer grows slowly in the prostate, a walnut-sized gland at the base of the bladder. It usually doesn't cause symptoms until it's big enough to put pressure on the tube carrying urine from the bladder out of the body.
This has led to prostate cancer being called a "silent killer" because people can live years with no idea they have it. According to the NHS, when symptoms do start, they include various changes to toilet habits, including:
- needing to pee more frequently, often during the night
- needing to rush to the toilet
- difficulty in starting to pee (hesitancy)
- straining or taking a long time while peeing
- weak flow
- feeling that your bladder has not emptied fully
- blood in urine or blood in semen
These symptoms don't always mean you have prostate cancer as the prostate can get larger as you get older due to a non-cancerous condition called benign prostate enlargement, according to the NHS. Even if it is prostate cancer, it sometimes grows too slowly to cause any problems or affect how long you live, or even to require treatment, Prostate Cancer UK said.
Sometimes, however, the cancer grows quickly and spreads, which is more likely to cause problems and need treatment. Signs the cancer has spread include bone and back pain, a loss of appetite, pain in the testicles and unintentional weight loss, according to the NHS.
Between one in six and one in eight men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Risk increases with age, mainly affecting men over 50, according to Prostate Cancer UK. The risk is higher for Black men and people with a family history of prostate cancer.
There's also a North-South divide when it comes to catching prostate cancer in time. In London, 12.5% of people with prostate cancer are diagnosed when it's too late to cure it, rising to 17.1% in the North West, and 35% in Scotland.
Prostate Cancer UK said: "Early prostate cancer is very treatable, but it's important to be aware that it doesn't normally have symptoms in the early stages. That is why it's so crucial that every man knows his risk of getting the disease. Prostate Cancer UK’s online risk checker takes just 30 seconds and is designed to help men understand their risk and what action they can take."
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
READ NEXT:
