The prostate is a small gland at the base of the bladder. It produces a fluid which protects and nourishes sperm. At ejaculation, the fluid mixes with sperm and secretions from other glands to produce the ejaculate.  The location of the prostate, close to the bladder and surrounding the urethra (urine outlet tube)  means that conditions which affect it such as enlargement or inflammation can cause urinary symptoms.

As men grow older, urinary symptoms. are very common,  in fact about 1 in 4 men over 40 will notice one or more symptoms. These can include frequent need to urinate, slow stream, starting and stopping and urgent need to urinate. For many, such symptoms raise the question of prostate disease. The most common prostate-related cause of such symptoms is not prostate cancer, but benign prostate enlargement (BPE). The two conditions are quite different and one cannot turn into the other. For more details on BPE see our section on urinary symptoms.

Another  condition of the prostate which can cause urinary symptoms is  prostatitis. In addition, prostatitis, or inflammation  of the prostate can cause  pain in the lower abdomen, pain urinating, chills and fever. It can be a very debilitating condition. Further information on prostatitis is available here.

A third condition- prostate cancer - is  less common than benign prostate enlargement, but nevertheless, is now the most frequently diagnosed cancer amongst Australian men, after skin cancer. Prostate cancer most often grows in the outer section of the prostate cancer and  does not usually cause symptoms at an early stage.

Understandably Prostate cancer causes a great deal of concern in the community, however, there are many features of prostate cancer which make it one of the least threatening of cancers. Prostate cancer is usually slow growing. After diagnosis, a majority of men live, with a high quality of life, for 10 years or more. When caught early enough and treated with either surgery or radiotherapy, prostate cancer can be cured.

After a diagnosis, there are many questions: how threatening is my cancer? Do I need  treatment now or can it wait? Which treatment is best? To understand answers to these questions, it can be helpful to have some background information.  We hope that this website will give you some of that information and point you to other sources. A good place to start is with the PHIP information - prostate cancer information which is useful at different stages of the condition.