Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about prostate cancer.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero definals.com slash prostate cancer

or in the urology section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.

It varies in how aggressive it is and many prostate cancers are very slow growing and do not cause

death.

Advanced prostate cancer most commonly spreads to the lymph nodes and to the bones.

Prostate cancer is almost always androgen dependent,

meaning that they rely on androgen hormones to grow, for example, testosterone.

The majority are adenocarsinomas, and they grow in the peripheral zone of the prostate.

There's a challenge with prostate cancer as the ideal scenario is to find and treat clinically significant prostate cancers early, but also to avoid picking up cancers that would not turn out to be

clinically significant, to avoid unnecessary stress investigations and treatment.

The key risk factors for prostate cancer are increasing age, a family history of prostate cancer,

being from a black African or Caribbean background,

tall stature, and anabolic steroid use.

Let's talk about the presentation.

Prostate cancer may be asymptomatic.

It may also present with lower urinary tract symptoms,

similar to benign prostateatic hyperplasia.

These symptoms include hesitancy of urine, frequency of urination, a weak flow, terminal dribbling, and

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