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HOW PROSTATE CANCER DEVELOPS: STAGES OF PROSTATE CANCER
Staging is a system used by doctors to determine the extent of the cancer and how to treat it. By understanding the stages of cancer, a patient can, with his doctor, make fully informed decisions regarding treatment. Unfortunately, as discussed earlier, symptoms are not always apparent to alert us.
Stage A In stage A, a doctor cannot feel a tumor during the digital rectal exam (DRE), and the patient has no symptoms. The cancer is typically discovered when portions of the prostate are removed to treat BPH; during the subsequent biopsy, microscopic areas of cancer are found. If the biopsy indicates that the cancer that is present is not more than 5 percent of the tissue, then it is considered to be in substage A1. A cancer with more than this percentage is in substage A2. Depending on the health, age, and decision of the patient, a radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland and surrounding tissues) will often be recommended.
Stage B In stage B, the cancer is confined to the prostate gland. At this stage, the patient may not notice symptoms to alert him to the problem. The doctor may detect its presence during the DRE, and the level of PSA may be increased. As with stage A, stage is divided into substages. If the tumor is detected in only one lobe of the prostate and is about two centimeters (three-quarters of an inch) in diameter, it is classified as stage 1. If it is in more than one lobe, or it is greater than two centimeters, it is classified as B2. Surgery or radiation hormone therapy may be an option if the patient is older and is not considered in good enough health for surgery.
Stage In stage C, the cancer cells have spread outside the capsule, or covering, of the prostate gland into tissues around the prostate. The symptoms indicate something is not right down there. The spread may reach the glands that produce semen. Unfortunately, most patients don't visit their doctor until this stage, when the doctor may have to resort to radiation therapy.
Stage D In stage D, the cancer has spread outside the prostate capsule and has invaded the lymph nodes, bone marrow, lungs, liver, or other parts of the body. If the cancer has progressed to lymph nodes in the pelvic area, it is classified as Dl. In D2, it has spread to remote parts of the body. There is often considerable pain, especially in the upper thigh, lower back, and pelvic area. If the cancer has spread to the bones or lymph nodes, there is no known cure. The doctor will try to control the disease by eliminating the male hormones, which stimulate the growth and spread of the cancer.
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Men's Health Erectile Dysfunction
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Pharmacy Information
SEXUALITY DEFINED: PAGAN-POLYTHEISTIC INFLUENCES - ROMAN SEXUALITY
Although there is reasonable agreement among most authorities regarding the characteristics of Greek sexuality, Roman customs and values are a matter of considerable debate. Conventional wisdom holds that the Roman society was as sexually promiscuous as the Greek; and it is popularly believed that the collapse of the Roman Empire was due, in no small part, to the sexual excesses of its citizens (Canter, 1963). These views have been challenged, however, on the grounds that the sexual excesses of Roman society have been greatly exaggerated and that the accounts of these events are biased and inaccurate (Bullough, 1976). Whatever the actual case, certainly Roman culture was more complicated and multidimensional than Greek society. The Roman Empire endured for a relatively long period of time; and, whereas the Greeks retained their beliefs and customs, Roman culture changed in the light of the changing empire and in the face of continuous exposure to other cultures.
The Romans, of course, shared the polytheistic religion of the Greeks, as well as the sexuality of their deities. Thus, they shared the Grecian religious approval of sex. As Grimal states:
To love was to obey the gods and achieve one of the requisites of the human condition. Chastity could be required by religious rites in certain cases, but it was not a good thing in itself; not even a desirable thing; it was rather an impairment of what was good and desirable for among the gifts of the gods to man, love is always to be found. [Grimal, 1967, p. xiii]
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Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction
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