Bone Metastasis of Prostate Cancer – Symptoms and Treatment

Early stage prostate cancer is hard to detect, especially if you are not an oncologist or urologist, or if you do not have the necessary equipment to carry out the diagnostics. That is why as many as twenty seven thousand men die from the condition in the United State every year, about ten percent of the close to three hundred thousand strong figure that is realized for new diagnoses year in and year out.

Considering the fact that up to ninety percent of all prostate cancer cases in the United States are caught and treated early, and that most of them have survival (or cancer free) rates that range from five years to well over ten, one might wonder then what is responsible for so many deaths?

I’ll tell you what it is – it’s prostate cancer metastasis, especially to the bones.

Early stage disease is most curable because it is usually still confined to the prostate. As such, whatever treatments can simply target the infected area and have the carcinoma removed in a hurry. Not so, when the disease has had the chance to grow and spread. Usually migrating prostate cancer cells hit the bloodstream and lymph nodes first, but they invariably end up in the bones.

Various manifestations of prostate cancer have various intensities and levels of aggression, so that even though most prostate cancers take as many as three to five years before they metastasize to the bones, there are those very mean ones that could do in only in a matter of months from when they are just diagnosed. That is why in spite of treatments, patients are urged to maintain constant visits to the doctor during and after treatments, preferably at three to six month intervals.

About the primary symptom of prostate cancer bone metastasis is intense bone pain, usually in the proximal part of the bones. This is common in the pelvis, the thigh, the ribs, and oftentimes the bones of the vertebral column. If the disease continues to be neglected, or if it happens to be one of those very aggressive types, other bones much further away might eventually start to manifest those pains as well.

There is no reason however to allow the disease to go untreated once you are aware of it. Usually the doctors will offer you chemotherapy, sometimes in combination with hormone treatments and radiation. Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to slow the growth and spread of the cancer, sometimes killing it.

Naturally, some pain relief medications and therapy might be offered, but the most important thing will be to stop the disease from spreading further. If for some reason they are not able to achieve that, then they realize that it is only a matter of time before? well, before the worst happens.

Bone metastasis of prostate cancer, even if cured, does not often call for confidence in prognosis because it has a high probability of relapse. However in the course of prostate cancer research, better and better drugs and techniques are being found all the time and improved upon. In the meantime, stick with your treatments, will you?