What are the metastatic pathways of prostate cancer? Four pathways of prostate cancer metastasis

We may often hear about prostatitis, prostate hyperplasia and other reproductive system diseases. Although these diseases are troublesome, they do not affect men's life safety. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, men should be careful, because this is a very troublesome malignant tumor disease. The early symptoms are relatively hidden. After developing to the middle and late stages, the disease will metastasize, and most patients will only notice it when the tumor metastasizes. So what are the specific metastatic pathways of prostate cancer?

1. Direct spread. Tumor cells spread through the capsule to the surrounding area and invade nearby organs, such as the seminal vesicles and vas deferens, and the bladder and organs within the bladder may also be affected. Prostate nodules can be found if a rectal examination is performed.

2. Lymphatic metastasis. Lymphatic metastasis is actually quite common in clinical practice. When many cancer diseases develop to the late stage, tumor cells will metastasize to the lymph nodes. First, the patient's obturator-internal iliac chain will be invaded, but it should be clear that the lymph nodes at the obturator foramen are generally not invaded. Clinically, the internal iliac lymph nodes are generally called obturator lymph nodes. The course along the internal iliac blood vessels is the most important, so we should remove the lymph nodes in time. Prostate cancer lymph node metastasis first occurs in the subcutaneous lymph node area, but it will also metastasize through the inguinal lymph nodes, and finally spread to the mediastinum and subclavian lymph nodes.

3. Hematogenous metastasis. The chance of blood metastasis of prostate cancer is actually quite high. Cancer cells will be transferred to the lungs, liver, kidneys and other parts through the blood. Clinically, patients will have symptoms such as liver enlargement, dyspnea, and hemoptysis. If it is brain metastasis, it will cause neurological dysfunction.

4. Bone metastasis. In addition to lymph node metastasis, the most common is bone metastasis. For example, there are lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, thoracic vertebrae, etc. When metastases to these parts, the patient will have spinal cord compression. Bone metastasis is generally manifested as osteoblastic changes in clinical practice.

The symptoms of prostate cancer are not particularly obvious in the early stages. Even if there are urgency, frequency, or other symptoms, most men will mistakenly think they have common diseases such as prostate hyperplasia or prostatitis. If prostate cancer is not treated in time in the early stages, it will develop into lymph node metastasis, bone metastasis, etc. At this time, there is no active way to control the disease, and we can only try our best to prolong the patient's life.