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Prostate

ENH Comprehensive Prostate Cancer
Center team 
About Prostate Cancer

In 2007, doctors diagnosed an estimated 218,000 men in the United States with prostate cancer. In an effort to lower these numbers in the future, researchers are investigating many possible markers for prostate cancer. These markers may one day help identify men at higher risk.  

ENH has established a unique new Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center that makes it easy for patients to coordinate their care with a team of specialists. 

Risk Factors  

The major risk factors for prostate cancer include genetic, dietary and environmental factors that effect male hormones and make a man more susceptible to this cancer.

Some evidence has suggested that heredity may play a role in prostate cancers. Men with a family history of the disease have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. Having one family member with prostate cancer doubles a man's own risk and having three family members poses an 11-fold risk for the disease. A number of genes are under investigation but the genetic mechanism appears to be very complex. Some early-onset cases of prostate cancer associated with specific inherited genes have been identified, but they account for a small percentage of cases.

A Western lifestyle is associated with prostate cancer, so obesity, high-meat intake, and dietary fats have been intensively studied. Results have been inconsistent, however. Certain factors, such as carcinogenic compounds in well-cooked meat or high-calorie intake, may help explain the associations between such dietary factors and cancer risk.

Signs and Symptoms

Prostate cancer is a disease that presents a great challenge for physicians, their patients and patients' families. Typically, men who have the disease are asymptomatic until the disease spreads. Autopsy studies suggest many more men die with the disease rather than from it. In fact, many men are never affected by their disease, even though they may have had it for many years.