5 Most Common Prostate Cancer Myths
Prostate cancer, like every other cancer in the world right now, is curable. If you find out that you have prostate cancer, you might be low and won’t be able to focus on any tasks or activities in your day-to-day life. You must know that like most of the diseases even prostate cancer myths are quite prevalent and you might come across them if you diagnose prostate cancer. To help you stay away from thinking about piling on those myths, here are some of the most common prostate cancer myths:
- Prostate cancer has urinary symptoms, always.
Based on this prostate cancer myth, many people believe that if a person does not have urinary symptoms, then they do not have prostate cancer. The widespread nature of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) proves that this is a myth as most men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the early stages of the disease. Also, in the early stages, there aren’t any signs of urinary symptoms. - Sex helps to improve the patient’s health
When you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, there are many life changes you would go through and many alterations that might help in making you feel better. However, among these changes, there is a prostate cancer myth that sex improves the health. Although there are no scientific reasons to prove the legitimacy of this myth. - Prostate cancer can be transmitted through sex
One of the most prevalent prostate cancer myths is the transmission of this cancer through sex. While the earlier myth suggests that sex can help in improving the condition of the cancer, this one is contradictory to that. Cancer occurs when the affected cells grow out and overcrowd the normal cells in the body. Any type of cancer cannot be transmitted through sex. - PSA is the only way to diagnose prostate cancer
Even if Prostate-Specific Antigen test (PSA) is one of the most effective ways for physicians to evaluate the presence of prostate cancer, it is not the only way. There are some other tests that need to be performed to confirm the diagnosis of a prostate cancer. The PSA tests evaluates the level of PSA in the blood, but it can also mean that the patient is suffering from a condition other than prostate cancer. A prostate biopsy and a digital rectal exam are the common tests that need to be undertaken to confirm the presence of a prostate cancer. - A normal DRE is an indicator of no prostate cancer
A Digital rectal examination (DRE) is performed to confirm the presence of prostate cancer after the PSA examination. There is a prostate cancer myth that a normal DRE means that there is no prostate cancer. However, DRE is only 50 percent accurate, when it comes to detecting prostate cancer. It is a basic test that allows the physician to gauge the presence of induration, a prostatic nodule, abnormal texture or prostate size and tenderness.
The above-mentioned myths are one of the most common prostate cancer myths and must not be believed, make sure to consult your physician in any case.
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