CPD module: Prostate cancer

After completing this module, you should be more aware of:

·     - prostate cancer epidemiology;

·     - risk factors;

·     - different types of prostate cancer;

·    - the role of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in healthy men and women;

·     - factors likely to increase PSA levels;

·     - prostate cancer often being symptom-free in the early stages;

·     - symptoms which may prompt a man to visit the doctor;

·     - the range of tests and scans used to work up a diagnosis;

·     - possible reasons for not automatically having a PSA test;

·     - how prostate cancer is categorised, stages and how it is graded for treatment;

·     - non-drug options for lower risk prostate cancer including surgery, radiotherapy and other ablation procedures and side effects;

·     - hormonal anti-androgen therapy and chemotherapy options for higher risk and metastatic prostate cancer;

·     - drugs suitable for helping with side effects of hormone therapy.

 

Prostate cancer (PC) has become the most common cancer (overtaking breast cancer diagnoses in 2022), affecting 1 in 8 men during their lifetime.^1,2

Each year, more than 55,000 PC cases are diagnosed and there are 12,200 deaths. As the ten-year survival rate exceeds 78%, most men die with PC rather than from it and about 75% of PC deaths are in men aged 75 and over.^3,4

For comparison, enlarged prostate or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) occurs in more than half of men aged 60 and 90% of those aged over 80.⁵