CARCINOMA OF THE PROSTATE

CARCINOMA OF THE PROSTATE

Carcinoma of the prostate is the most common malignant tumour in men over the age of 65 years. In the UK in 2017, more than 48 000 men were diagnosed with, and more than figures in the USA were 190 000 and 33 000, respectively . If histological section of prostates at autopsy is performed, increasingly frequent foci of microscopic prostate cancers are found with increasing age. These foci of prostate cancer have variable potential for progressing clinically to metastatic disease. About 10–15% of younger men who develop prostate cancer have a positive family history of the disease, but the aetiology is unclear. Throughout the world, rates of microscopic foci of prostate cancer are constant, but rates of clinically evident disease are low in men in Japan, China and India. Carcinoma of the prostate usually originates in the peripheral zone of the prostate, so ‘prostatectomy’ for benign enlargement of the gland confers no protection from subsequent carcinoma.