What are the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer is not unfamiliar to us. It is a male reproductive disease that causes serious harm to men's bodies. Male friends should pay more attention to changes in their bodies and take this disease seriously. Early treatment is the best solution. Before that, a diagnosis is needed to confirm the disease. So, what are the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer?

1. Rectal digital examination: Rectal digital examination is the main method for diagnosing prostate cancer. Since the prostate is close to the front of the rectum, the size and texture of the prostate can be felt through rectal digital examination. The normal prostate gland is about 4cm3cm in size, soft in texture, smooth on the surface without nodules, and symmetrical on both sides. When a patient has prostate hyperplasia, the doctor can find changes in his prostate gland through rectal digital examination (the volume of the prostate will increase, but the texture will not be very hard), which is very important for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. If a patient has prostate cancer, the doctor can feel the protruding tumor nodules on the surface of the prostate through rectal digital examination (if the tumor is large, the texture of the entire prostate will become very hard, like a stone).

2. Serum prostate-specific antigen test: Prostate-specific antigen is currently the main diagnostic method for prostate cancer. Although prostate-specific antigen can also be detected in the blood of normal people, when serum prostate-specific antigen rises to a certain value, it indicates that cancer cells exist in the patient's prostate.

A study found that among 473 patients who were eventually diagnosed with prostate cancer after serum prostate-specific antigen testing, 40% of them were not found through rectal examination. Currently, due to the widespread clinical application of serum prostate-specific antigen testing, the diagnosis time of prostate cancer has been advanced by an average of 5 to 8 years, which provides more time and opportunities to save the lives of prostate cancer patients.

What are the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer? After reading the above introduction, we have a general understanding of the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer. I hope everyone can learn more about prostate cancer from it. Male friends must pay attention to the diagnosis of prostate cancer, which is very important for the health of male friends.