MANday: Prostate Conditions Men of All Ages Should Know About

Men’s prostate gland, about the size of a walnut, resides directly beneath the urinary bladder and forward of the rectum. It also surrounds the upper urethra, the small tube that drains urine from the bladder via the penis to outside the body. An unhealthy prostate, often ignored, can adversely affect urination and sexual function. The prostate is vulnerable to three primary conditions: prostatitis (prostatic infection or inflammation), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (age-induced prostate size growth), and prostate cancer (potentially lethal prostatic cancer cell growth).

BPH, common in older men, causes urination problems due to an enlarged non-cancerous prostate. Treatments include medications to shrink the prostate or ease urinary symptoms or surgery to improve urine flow.

Prostatitis, heralded by pelvic, testicular, penile, and ejaculatory pain, in addition to urinary problems, is often caused by bacterial infection and treated with antibiotics. It is often mistaken for a urinary bladder or kidney infection, but usually only detected with a specialized semen culture that will precisely guide antibiotic therapy. Some men are prone to repeat chronic infections that require lengthy antibiotic therapy. Chronic prostatitis, or chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), without an active urinary tract infection, causes pain in the lower back, groin, or tip of the penis lasting longer than 3 months. Treatment requires medications, surgery, and lifestyle changes.

A silent killer of men, prostate cancer risk is affected by age (50 years and older raises risk), race (most common among African Americans, followed by Hispanics, Native Americans, Caucasians, and Asian Americans), family history (increased risk if your father or brother had prostate cancer), and diet (may be higher with high-fat diets).

At The Y Factor, our providers diagnose prostate cancer through assessing your medical history, performing a physical exam (checking prostate size, firmness, or presence of pain or hard lumps), testing the blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level (high in men with prostate enlargement or cancer), an advanced molecular urine test (determines risk of high grade prostate cancer), and medical imaging (ultrasound, cystoscopy, CT, and MRI). The testing will determine the need for an ultrasound-guided biopsy where small tissue samples are gathered from several areas of the prostate gland to look for cancer cells. Fortunately, this is a relatively quick and comfortable procedure done under local anesthetic. Depending on the severity or spread outside the prostate, prostate cancer is treated by active surveillance (wait and monitor cancer growth), surgery (removal of prostate and surrounding tissue), radiation (to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors), and hormone therapy (drugs that stop the body’s testosterone production).

See The Y Factor team immediately if you have the following signs of prostate problems: frequent urge to urinate; getting up often at night to urinate; blood in urine or semen; pain with urination or ejaculation; frequent pain or stiffness in lower back, hips, testicles, pelvic or rectal area, or upper thighs; and post-void urine dribbling. We specialize in men’s health and are ready to help you at one of our six locations across the Greater Houston area. Women Have OB-GYNs | Men Have The Y Factor!

References

Margolis, E., Brown, G., Partin, A., Carter, B., McKiernan, J., Tutrone, R., Torkler, P., Fischer, C., Tadigotla, V., Noerholm, M., Donovan, M. J., & Skog, J. Predicting high-grade prostate cancer at initial biopsy: clinical performance of the ExoDx (EPI) Prostate Intelliscore test in three independent prospective studies. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. doi:10.1038/s41391-021-00456-8

Prostate Health. (2021). Retrieved December 18, 2021, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/prostate-health

Prostate Problems. (2021). Retrieved December 18, 2021, from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/prostate-problems#symptoms

Andre Piliszek is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C) and brings to The Y Factor over 25 years of outpatient clinical experience as a certified DOT medical examiner, Nurse, Medical Assistant, and Radiographer.

In 1992, Andre graduated from Houston Baptist University earning a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Chemistry and Biology. He then graduated with honors from Texas Chiropractic earning a Doctorate of Chiropractic (DC) degree in 2007. During this time, he was also inducted into the Omega Psi Honor Society. In 2011, Andre also graduated with honors from Hardin Simmons University earning an additional Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Nursing (BSN). In 2020, he then graduated from Texas Woman’s University earning a Master of Science degree (MSN) with a specialization in the Family Nurse Practitioner tract. He was also recently inducted into the Society for Collegiate Leadership & Achievement honor society.

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