Cancer of the Prostate

Abstract

Prostatic cancer is predominantly found in elderly males and is becoming increasingly important as life expectancy rises. It is now the second or third most common malignant disease in men in Western countries with one in ten men developing clinical evidence of the disease. However, only a third of diagnosed patients die of the condition, for mortality is usually from other causes in the elderly patient. Approximately half of patients present at a time when the cancer is clinically localized; the other half already have metastatic disease at initial diagnosis. Metastases are commonly to bone, where the lesions can be seen on X-rays as (almost exclusively) osteosclerotic lesions (Fig. 1) or on a bone scan as areas of increased activity known as “hot spots” (Fig. 2). Treatment for patients with metastatic disease is usually hormonal and is thus palliative rather than curative.