Prostate cancer: Dr Philippa Kaye discusses symptoms
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One of the symptoms of prostate cancer is weak urine flow, says charity Prostate Cancer UK.
Other symptoms include:
• Difficulty starting to urinate or emptying bladder
• A feeling the bladder hasn’t emptied properly
• Dribbling urine after you finish urinating
• Needing to urinate more often than usual
• A sudden need to urinate
• Leaking urine before arriving at the toilet bowl.
If prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body, it can cause back, hip, or pelvis pain, erectile dysfunction, blood in the urine or semen, and unexplained weight loss.
On subsequent symptoms of prostate cancer, the charity says: “These symptoms can all be caused by other health problems.
“But it’s still a good idea to tell your GP about any symptoms so they can find out what’s causing them and make sure you get the right treatment, if you need it.”
Prostate Cancer UK has been working to increase the number of men who are thinking about their cancer risk.
While focus on male cancer peaks in November, it isn’t on the lips of many either side of that unless they’re diagnosed.
As part of trying to help men consider their cancer risk more, the charity has launched a 30 second checker on their website.
Consisting of three quick questions, this checker helps men to identify how at risk they are of prostate cancer.
If they’re at particularly high risk, the checker will recommend they ask for a type of blood test that will tell them if they have the condition.
The hope is that lives can be saved by people discovering they have the disease before symptoms develop and when the cancer is at an early stage.
The way prostate cancer is diagnosed could also be about to change.
The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has become the first clinical centre in the UK to use AI to help diagnose prostate cancer.
It works by taking scans from biopsies and feeding them into an app known as Galen.
This app processes slides from multiple patients in minutes and if abnormalities are detected an consultant is alerted automatically.
Oliver Kemp, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research, says the AI technology is a lot more accurate and cheaper than other diagnostic methods.
They say: “The human eye has faults, and if somebody is tired at the end of the day, you’ll have a worse outcome than if someone is looking at your scan at the beginning of the day.
“So, we’re excited about this because we can encourage a different way of diagnosing rather than just relying on the traditional PSA test, which has its faults.”
By pushing through new diagnostic technologies with substantive evidence, the belief is that thousands of lives could be saved in the future.
Cancer doesn’t stop, and neither will the quest to fight it.
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