About Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the commonest non-skin cancer in men in the UK. It accounts for over 47,000 new diagnoses. In England about 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and more than 10,000 men die of the disease each year.

It is different from most cancers in that a significant proportion of the cancers can pose a low risk to future health. This is particularly the case in older men with low grade cancers. Sometimes even in younger men the cancer can be small, slow growing and present only a limited risk to the patient. Clinically important prostate cancers can be defined as those that threaten the future well-being or life span of a man.

Prostate cancer is the commonest non-skin cancer in men in the UK.

We do not know what causes prostate cancer but, in some men, there is a genetic component. Cambridge urologists and scientists working with colleagues at the Marsden have been critically important to the discovery of new genetic changes that may underpin prostate cancer [3-7]. Men whose fathers, uncles and brothers have had prostate cancer or whose mothers have a history of breast cancer are at an increased risk.

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