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 Download: Prostate Cancer fact sheet PDF (136kb)
What is cancer?A cancer is an altered growth of cells. Cells normally grow and divide in a controlled way, but sometimes, this process gets out of control and the cells continue to divide to form an abnormal growth or lump called a tumour. Tumours can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous) and can happen in many different cells or tissues in the body.
A benign tumour is not cancerous as the abnormal cells do not invade other tissues or spread to other parts of the body. Benign tumours may cause problems to nearby healthy organs by pressing on them and affecting their normal function if they continue to grow.
A malignant tumour is cancerous as cells continue to grow in an uncontrolled way and have the ability to invade nearby tissues and can spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymphatic system. If cells reach a new site they may continue to divide and form a secondary tumour (sometimes called a metastasis), if left untreated.
A doctor will do a biopsy and take a small sample of cells to look at them under a microscope to see if the tumour is benign or malignant.  Back to top
What is prostate cancer?Prostate cancer happens mainly in men over the age of 50. Excluding some forms of skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in Australia.
Prostate cancer is a condition where cells within the prostate grow and divide abnormally and a tumour grows in the prostate. Prostate cancer cells can be very slow growing and not cause any problems or symptoms, and may not become life-threatening. It is estimated that about 25% of men over the age of 50 may have a small area of cancer cells within the prostate. This figure can rise to over 40% in men aged 60 years. Many men would not know that they may have early prostate cancer as it often does not have symptoms. In other cases, the cancer cells can grow more rapidly and may spread to other parts of the body.
It is not known why some cancers grow at different rates and which cancers may spread to other parts of the body. Back to top
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