WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PROSTATE GLAND

What is the Prostate gland?

It is a gland that ONLY men have. Its main job is to make some of the semen (the fluid) that carries sperm. It is normally the size and shape of a walnut.

Where is the Prostate gland?

The prostate gland lies under the bladder and surrounds the urethra (the tube that carries urine and semen. (Refer to the picture below)

Prostate gland

What are the common prostate health problems?

•   The most common is 'Benign Prostate Hypertrophy (BPH)', which basically means an enlargement of the prostate gland. It is caused by the prostate gland growing in size with age. It is not cancerous and can be treated. It commonly affects men from the age of 50yrs
• Prostatitis: It is caused by Infection or Inflammation of the prostate. This can affect men of any age, but its commoner between 30 and 50years
•  Prostate Cancer- this is the most common cancer in men in Nigeria. Some men have symptoms of prostate disease, others may have no symptoms. It develops when cells in the prostate grow in an uncontrolled way.

What are the symptoms of prostate problems?

A lot of prostate symptoms can be explained by where it can be found in the body, surrounding the urethra(the pipe that carries urine), so if it becomes bigger (in BPH, prostatitis or prostate cancer), it will compress on the urethra and slow down flow of urine. They include:

• ·         Needing to urinate more often than usual
• ·         Difficulty in starting to pass urine
• ·         Difficulty in stopping urine flow
• ·         Straining while passing urine
• ·         Taking a long time to finish urinating
• ·         Feeling of incomplete bladder emptying after urination
• ·         Poor urine flow
• ·         Needing to rush to the toilet to urinate, urine may leak before getting to the toilet

Others are

• ·         pain on passing urine
• ·         pain when ejaculating
• ·         blood in the urine or semen

What to do

1.       If you have any of the symptoms above, visit your doctor for further assessment (a urinary tract infection can also cause the above symptoms).

2.       Remember that Prostate cancer may show no symptoms, it’s advised that men above the age of 40years get a yearly prostate cancer screening. This involves a Digital rectal examination where the doctor will feel your prostate for any hard or irregular areas or to know if it is enlarged and a PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood test.

Reference

1.       www.prostate-cancer.org.uk

2.       Picture credit: Google images (www.webmd.com)