Prostate cancer: Basics on clinical appearance, diagnostics and treatment

With an incidence of approximately 60,000 per year prostate cancer is the most common malignant neoplasm in men with a relatively low mortality rate and a high mean age of primary diagnosis of about 70 years. The disease remains usually clinically occult over a long period of time and generally manifests primarily in a locally advanced or metastasized stage. Due to screening using the PSA level (prostate specific antigen) in blood serum, diagnosis and therapy nowadays are oftentimes possible at an early stage. The prostate carcinoma is classified using risk groups based on the level of PSA, the local tumor spread and the histological degree of differentiation (Gleason score). If no metastases are detected during staging a local curative therapy is indicated, provided that the patient is eligible for this due to age, comorbidity and life expectancy. Depending on the risk group of the patient, radical prostatectomy, percutaneous radiotherapy, brachytherapy or active surveillance are available as curative therapy concepts. Focal therapies such as HIFU, electrovaporization or cryotherapy are currently considered to be experimental. If metastases are already present at primary diagnosis, palliative, systemic therapy can be performed with an androgen deprivation therapy and chemotherapy. At an advanced and hormone refractory stage, treatment with an osteotropic radiotracer or palliative radiotherapy can reduce bone metastases and alleviate respective symptoms.