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What is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is cancer that occurs in the prostate. The prostate is a small walnut-shaped gland in males that produces the seminal fluid that nourishes and transports sperm.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and are confined to the prostate gland, where they may not cause serious harm. However, while some types of prostate cancer grow slowly and may need minimal or even no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly.

Risk Factors

Factors that can increase your risk of prostate cancer include:

• Older age. Your risk of prostate cancer increases as you age. It’s most common after age 50.
• Race. For reasons not yet determined, Black people have a greater risk of prostate cancer than do people of other races. In Black people, prostate cancer is also more likely to be aggressive or advanced.
• Family history. If a blood relative, such as a parent, sibling or child, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, your risk may be increased. Also, if you have a family history of genes that increase the risk of breast cancer (BRCA1 or BRCA2) or a very strong family history of breast cancer, your risk of prostate cancer may be higher.
• Obesity. People who are obese may have a higher risk of prostate cancer compared with people considered to have a healthy weight, though studies have had mixed results. In obese people, the cancer is more likely to be more aggressive and more likely to return after initial treatment.

How does prostate cancer develop?

Prostate cancer develops when abnormal cells in the prostate gland grow in an uncontrolled way, forming a malignant tumour. It is estimated that more than 25,400 males were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023. The average age at diagnosis is 70 years old.

Symptoms & Reports

If you are experiencing new, severe, or persistent symptoms, contact a health care provider.

Early stage prostate cancer may not cause any signs or symptoms. Symptoms commonly noted during the advanced stage include:

• Trouble urinating
• Frequent urination
• Decreased force of urination
• Difficulty starting or stopping urine stream
• Blood in semen
• Pain or discomfort in the pelvic area
• Bone Pain

Complications

Complications of prostate cancer and its treatments include:

• Cancer that spreads (metastasizes). Prostate cancer can spread to nearby organs, such as your bladder, or travel through your bloodstream or lymphatic system to your bones or other organs. Prostate cancer that spreads to the bones can cause pain and broken bones. Once prostate cancer has spread to other areas of the body, it may still respond to treatment and may be controlled, but it’s unlikely to be cured.
• Incontinence. Both prostate cancer and its treatment can cause urinary incontinence. Treatment for incontinence depends on the type you have, how severe it is and the likelihood it will improve over time. Treatment options may include medications, catheters and surgery.
• Erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction can result from prostate cancer or its treatment, including surgery, radiation or hormone treatments. Medications, vacuum devices that assist in achieving erection and surgery are available to treat erectile dysfunction.

Prevention

• Choose a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables. Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Fruits and vegetables contain many vitamins and nutrients that can contribute to your health.

Whether you can prevent prostate cancer through diet has yet to be conclusively proved. But eating a healthy diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables can improve your overall health.

• Choose healthy foods over supplements. No studies have shown that supplements play a role in reducing your risk of prostate cancer. Instead, choose foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals so that you can maintain healthy levels of vitamins in your body.
• Exercise most days of the week. Exercise improves your overall health, helps you maintain your weight and improves your mood. Try to exercise most days of the week. If you’re new to exercise, start slow and work your way up to more exercise time each day.
• Maintain a healthy weight. If your current weight is healthy, work to maintain it by choosing a healthy diet and exercising most days of the week. If you need to lose weight, add more exercise and reduce the number of calories you eat each day. Ask your doctor for help creating a plan for healthy weight loss.

Stomach cancer, which is also called gastric cancer, is a growth of cells that starts in the stomach. The stomach is in the upper middle part of the belly, just below the ribs. The stomach helps to break down and digest food.

Stomach cancer can happen in any part of the stomach. In most of the world, stomach cancers happen in the main part of the stomach. This part is called the stomach body.

In the United States, stomach cancer is more likely to start by the gastroesophageal junction. This is the part where the long tube that carries food you swallow meets the stomach. The tube that carries food to the stomach is called the esophagus.

Where the cancer starts in the stomach is one factor health care providers think about when making a treatment plan. Other factors might include the cancer’s stage and the type of cells involved. Treatment often includes surgery to remove the stomach cancer. Other treatments may be used before and after surgery.

Stomach cancer treatment is most likely to be successful if the cancer is only in the stomach. The prognosis for people with small stomach cancers is quite good. Many can expect to be cured. Most stomach cancers are found when the disease is advanced and a cure is less likely. Stomach cancer that grows through the stomach wall or spreads to other parts of the body is harder to cure.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of stomach cancer may include:

• Trouble swallowing
• Belly pain
• Feeling bloated after eating
• Feeling full after eating small amounts of food
• Not feeling hungry when you would expect to be hungry
• Heartburn
• Indigestion
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Losing weight without trying
• Feeling very tired
• Stools that look black

Stomach cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms in its early stages. When they happen, symptoms might include indigestion and pain in the upper part of the belly. Symptoms might not happen until the cancer is advanced. Later stages of stomach cancer might cause symptoms such as feeling very tired, losing weight without trying, vomiting blood and having black stools.

Stomach cancer that spreads to other parts of the body is called metastatic stomach cancer. It causes symptoms specific to where it spreads. For example, when cancer spreads to the lymph nodes it might cause lumps you can feel through the skin. Cancer that spreads to the liver might cause yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. If cancer spreads within the belly, it might cause fluid to fill the belly. The belly might look swollen.

When to see a doctor

If you have signs and symptoms that worry you, make an appointment with your health care provider. Many conditions can cause symptoms that are like the ones caused by stomach cancer. Your provider might test for those other causes first before testing for stomach cancer.

Studies have shown an increased incidence and shorter survival rate of cancer affected by air pollution. The greenhouse gases emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels are contributing to climate change, climate change may worsen air quality by changing the ventilation, dilution, precipitation and other removal processes, and the amplification of atmospheric chemistry.

Besides outdoor air pollution, household air pollution is also a part of the linkage. There are still millions of people who are not able to cook with clean energy, which results in severe indoor air pollution as well as greenhouse gases, that is, the major factor affecting climate change. Indoor emissions from the household combustion of coal are a Group 1 carcinogen. The household combustion of biomass fuels and emissions from high-temperature frying have been concluded to be possibly carcinogenic to humans by the IARC.

It is estimated that 3.8 million premature deaths (8% from lung cancer) are attributable to household air pollution from cooking with kerosene or solid fuels each year. The Global Burden of Disease Study suggests that indoor air pollution is associated with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The 2.6 billion people who have less access to cleaner fuels, mostly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), suffer an increasing cancer burden and are also exposed to a huge amount of air pollution. The vicious cycle of climate change, air pollution, and cancer will keep rolling and provide a devastating cancer burden without intervention.

With the accumulation of greenhouse gases, global warming, and changing meteorological factors, there is an increasing frequency of abnormally hot and cold temperatures, which are the direct expression of climate variability. Although it is not clear whether it is the increased temperature of warm months, carcinomatous meningitis was observed to have a higher incidence in these months. Evidence from more studies is warranted to confirm the causal association.

The direct effects of extreme temperatures like heat waves may worsen the conditions of cancer patients because of their impaired thermoregulation and immune function. Occupational heat exposure, exacerbated by climate change, is also associated with several cancers, including female breast cancer. The climate-change-induced ozone depletion led to increasing ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure, which will lead to increased risks of melanoma and other skin cancers (e.g., squamous cell skin cancer). In consequence, melanoma survivors have an increased risk of developing second primary cancers, such as prostate cancer.

The changing temperature and precipitation will also lead to changes in natural disasters and food production, which may increase the risk of cancer indirectly. Long-term exposure to wildfires has been suggested to increase the incidence of lung cancer and brain tumors. Extreme weather and natural disasters caused by climate change may reduce people’s physical activity by limiting active venues and suitable temperatures. Less physical activity could increase the risks of colon, female breast, and uterine cancers. Furthermore, inactivity-induced excess body weight also increases the risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, genital organs, and female breast.

Breast cancer is a form of cancer that primarily affects the breast. Though commonly associated with women, men too can get breast cancer, though it is rare. After cervical cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in Kenya.

Substantial support for breast cancer awareness, screening and research is needed to change the cancer situation in the country.

Signs and symptoms of breast cancer may include:

• A breast lump or thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue
• Change in the size, shape or appearance of a breast
• Changes to the skin over the breast, such as dimpling
• A newly inverted nipple
• Peeling, scaling, crusting or flaking of the pigmented area of skin surrounding the nipple (areola) or breast skin
• Redness or pitting of the skin over your breast, like the skin of an orange

If you find a lump or other change in your breast — even if a recent mammogram was normal — make an appointment with your doctor for prompt evaluation.

Causes

Doctors know that breast cancer occurs when some breast cells begin to grow abnormally. These cells divide more rapidly than healthy cells do and continue to accumulate, forming a lump or mass. Cells may spread (metastasize) through your breast to your lymph nodes or to other parts of your body.

Breast cancer most often begins with cells in the milk-producing ducts (invasive ductal carcinoma). Breast cancer may also begin in the glandular tissue called lobules (invasive lobular carcinoma) or in other cells or tissue within the breast.

Researchers have identified hormonal, lifestyle and environmental factors that may increase your risk of breast cancer. But it’s not clear why some people who have no risk factors develop cancer, yet other people with risk factors never do. It’s likely that breast cancer is caused by a complex interaction of your genetic makeup and your environment.

Cancer impacts on children in many ways, depending on the type, stage, and treatment of the cancer, as well as the age and personality of the child. Some of the possible impacts are:

• Physical effects: Cancer and its treatment can cause various physical effects, such as pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, infections, and scars. Some of these effects may be temporary, while others may be permanent or long-lasting. Cancer can also affect the growth and development of children, especially if they receive radiation therapy or certain chemotherapy drugs
• Psychological effects: Cancer and its treatment can also affect the mental and emotional well-being of children. Some children may experience anxiety, depression, fear, anger, sadness, or guilt. They may have trouble coping with the uncertainty and stress of their illness, the changes in their appearance and abilities, and the disruption of their normal routines. 
• Social effects: Cancer and its treatment can also impact the social life of children. Some children may feel isolated, lonely, or different from their peers. They may miss school and other activities, lose contact with friends, or face bullying or teasing. They may also have difficulties with communication, relationships, and self-esteem. 
•  Cancer impacts on children are complex and varied, but they can be managed with appropriate care and support. Children with cancer have shown remarkable resilience and courage in facing their illness. They can still enjoy life and achieve their goals despite their challenges.

While the past two decades have seen scale-up of capacity in select LMIC, access to childhood cancer services remains limited in most Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) and generally correlates with expenditure on health and broader health system capacity.

There are currently no global data on the availability of childhood cancer services in different countries. In the 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) NCD Country Capacity Survey, over 90% of HIC reported having all fundamental cancer diagnosis and treatment services, namely pathology services, cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Children with cancer and their families, both in High Income Countries (HIC) and LMIC, suffer short- and long-term psychosocial, emotional, social and economic consequences secondary to cancer and its treatment.

For example, the availability of radiotherapy and complex surgical care for children is also contingent on paediatric anaesthesia, which is required for those services to be available and effective. Conditions, psychological response, coping behaviors linked to the child, familial and economic impact of the disease. Direct costs can include travel to the cancer centre, payment for services and/or purchasing of products related to the care of their children. Indirect costs can also be substantial, such as reductions in their incomes due to interruption or loss of employment for parents. These result in negative short-term-effects on household earnings, including potential negative longterm effects on employment. When compounded by an inability to access financial assistance programmes, families can suffer significant financial hardship, including being pushed into poverty

Childhood cancer survivors may also suffer long-term financial and psychological, social and neurocognitive difficulties. This leads to increased difficulty with friendships and the need for special education, especially when reaching the adolescent years. Many of these difficulties can persist into adult years. The adolescent population is particularly sensitive to these effects, given the disruption in self-determination and gain of independence resulting in an enduring psychological impact. For this reason, this population requires specialized psychosocial care and follow-up after treatment

Psychological Response

• Social isolation

 • Neurocognitive difficulties

• Lack of specialized care

               • Unavailable schooling

Financial Hardship

• Unaffordable care

 • High indirect costs such as travel expenses

 • Reduced family income

• Lost employment

Coping Behaviors

 • Treatment abandonment

• Noncompliant behavior