What are the specific early symptoms of prostate cancer? How to treat it?

The occurrence of prostate cancer can indeed put patients at risk of death. For this terrible cancer, we must attach importance to discovering it and responding to it as soon as possible, so that we can recover and get rid of the torture as soon as possible.

What are the early symptoms of prostate cancer?

1. 1/2 to 2/3 of patients have lymph node metastasis when they first see a doctor, which often occurs in the internal iliac, external iliac, retroperitoneal, groin, mediastinum, supraclavicular and other parts. If prostate cancer metastasizes to adjacent regional lymph nodes, there are usually no symptoms. In a few cases, when lymph nodes are widely metastatic and the lymph nodes are significantly enlarged, compressing blood vessels and blocking lymph return in the lower limbs, symptoms of swelling of the lower limbs and scrotum will occur.

2. Advanced prostate cancer with spinal metastasis, if the spine is fractured or the tumor invades the spinal cord, can lead to nerve compression and paralysis, requiring immediate emergency treatment in the hospital.

3. If prostate cancer invades the bladder base or pelvic lymph nodes are widely metastatic, unilateral or bilateral ureteral obstruction (the channel that drains urine from the kidneys to the bladder) may occur. Symptoms and signs of ureteral obstruction include oliguria (anuria in case of bilateral ureteral obstruction), back pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever in case of concurrent infection.

4. Prostate cancer is usually not accompanied by hematuria and hematospermia; however, if hematuria and hematospermia occur, you should go to the urology clinic for relevant examinations to rule out the possibility of prostate or seminal vesicle tumors.

5. Patients with extensive metastatic prostate cancer may experience tumor rupture and bleeding. Patients with prostate cancer may develop anemia. The cause of anemia may be related to tumor bone metastasis, endocrine therapy, or duration of illness. Since the number of blood cells generally decreases slowly, patients may not have any symptoms of anemia. Some patients with severe anemia may experience weakness, postural hypotension, dizziness, shortness of breath, and fatigue.

What treatments are available?

1. Surgical treatment

For those who are confined to one or one lobe of the prostate gland, if the patient is of the right age and has no contraindications to surgery, surgical eradication can be used, and lymph node dissection is also required. Once lymph node metastasis occurs, surgical eradication is not recommended. At the same time, after surgery, traditional Chinese medicine should be used for overall adjustment and treatment.

2. Radiation therapy

It includes external radiation therapy and internal radiation therapy. External radiation therapy now mainly refers to three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, which is a painless treatment performed in an outpatient clinic and has a therapeutic effect comparable to radical prostatectomy. Its advantage is that the therapeutic radiation is more concentrated on the prostate being treated, reducing the impact on surrounding tissues. External radiation therapy can cause acute cystitis, prostatitis and enteritis.

Internal radiotherapy is divided into high-energy rate internal radiotherapy and low-energy rate internal radiotherapy. High-energy rate internal radiotherapy generally refers to the use of isotopes to release a large amount of energy in the prostate in a short period of time, usually combined with external radiotherapy, but its complication rate is higher than that of low-energy rate internal radiotherapy; low-energy rate internal radiotherapy is a more convenient, single-time treatment method, also known as radioactive particle implantation. During the operation, multiple tiny radioactive particles are placed in the prostate under the guidance of B-ultrasound. The rays emitted by the particles kill tumor cells at close range. Its complications include acute urinary retention, urinary incontinence, enteritis and erectile dysfunction.

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment

Prostate cancer patients are often diagnosed with qi deficiency, blood stasis, and damp-heat constitutions. Therefore, different prescriptions are used for different constitutions. Patients with kidney qi deficiency and internal toxic heat need to replenish qi and kidney, and remove turbidity and blood stasis; patients with kidney qi deficiency and internal damp heat need to replenish kidney and qi, and remove dampness and heat; patients with qi deficiency and internal stasis need to strengthen the body to fight cancer, and remove toxins and remove blood stasis. Patients are given prescriptions based on syndrome differentiation.

4. Treatment of tumor elimination based on meridian constitution

Meridian diagnosis and examination of the meridian constitution tumor elimination method found that prostate cancer patients have meridian blockage and congestion forming nodules in the back and abdomen, legs and upper limbs, neck and shoulders. In particular, there are huge nodules in the back and abdomen where the bladder meridian passes. By unblocking these blocked nodules, the growth of prostate cancer can be controlled.

What foods can aid recovery?

1. Green tea. Green tea contains a variety of antioxidants, the main active ingredients of which are tea polyphenols and catechin compounds. Antioxidant ingredients have a significant inhibitory effect on the malignant transformation of cells induced by a variety of carcinogens, including aflatoxin, benzopyrene, cigarette carcinogens, amino acid cleavage products, etc., and help stabilize cell structure and reduce cell damage, while changes in cell structure and cell damage can cause cell cancer.

2. Beans. Beans contain phytoestrogens, which are similar to female estrogen. The isoflavones contained in soybeans can reduce the destructive effects of male hormones and inhibit and kill cancer cells.

3. Foods rich in selenium. Selenium is an important antioxidant that can reduce the incidence of prostate cancer by 70%, so it can be consumed appropriately. Selenium in the diet is mainly found in animal liver, seafood, milk and dairy products, mushrooms, garlic and asparagus.

4. Pomegranate juice. Pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants, the chemical that gives fruits and vegetables their darker colors, and it can inhibit the development of damaged cells into prostate cancer. Drinking a glass of pomegranate juice every day can significantly slow the growth of malignant tumors in patients with prostate cancer. Consuming pomegranate juice for adjuvant therapy is not only effective, but also does not produce other adverse reactions.