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Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer

Locally advanced prostate cancer is cancer that has grown through the outer wall of the prostate gland and into neighboring tissue. Locally advanced prostate cancer has not spread into lymph nodes or to other organs.

Experts do not know the exact cause of prostate cancer, but they believe that factors such as age and family history increase a man's risk of developing the disease. Prostate cancer usually is a disease of older men.

Prostate cancer may not cause symptoms. Possible symptoms of locally advanced prostate cancer are:

  • Waking frequently at night to urinate.
  • Difficulty or pain during urination.
  • Blood in the urine or semen.
  • Deep pain or stiffness in the lower back, upper thighs, or hips.

Locally advanced prostate cancer is diagnosed through physical exams and tests, including a digital rectal exam, a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, and a biopsy.

Locally advanced prostate cancer may be treated with radiation therapy, surgery to remove the prostate (prostatectomy), hormone therapy, or surgery to relieve symptoms (transurethral resection of the prostate).

Last Revised: June 28, 2010

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & J. Curtis Nickel, MD, FRCSC - Urology

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