Cancers Affecting the Male Reproductive System
Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. This disease causes a malignant growth resulting from the division of abnormal cells. It can grow in almost any body part, even the ones we are too shy to talk about in public. This may include male reproductive organs.
Types of Male Reproductive Cancer
Testicles are contained in a sac called a scrotum, which hangs beneath the penis. These organs produce sperm and control the male hormones. Over 90 percent of cancers in the testicles start in germ cells, which make sperm. Most of those cases are in men from the ages of 18 to 45 with the average diagnosis age being 33.
Men may experience some pain and discomfort, a lump, swelling and aching in the lower abdomen during at the earlier stages of the development of Testicular cancer.
The American Cancer Society has approximated that a man in the United States has a one in 263 chance of contracting this cancer. Once diagnosed, the chances of survival are high as some cases have been treated successfully.
Different kinds of cancers can develop within the Penis. According to the American Cancer Society, the majority of Penile Cancers are in the flat skin cells that are found on the foreskin. These skin cells can also be found on the head of the penis, called the glans. The foreskin is normally removed during circumcision.
Like all cancers of the human body, the growth of these tumours can be cured if they are discovered early, as they tend to grow at a slow rate. Other types of cancer that may affect the Penis are melanomas, a form of skin cancer in the cells that produce skin pigment. Other types of cancer form in the Penis skin’s sweat glands, and in the connective tissue of the Penis.
Early signs include a lump or growth and change in skin colour. In some cases a rash may appear accompanied by a swelling or an unpleasant discharge under the foreskin in those men who are uncircumcised.
Statistics from the American Cancer Society show that Penile Cancer affects about one in 100,000 men in the United States, therefore it’s a very rare in occurrence.
The Prostate gland is found around the urethra. This gland is what produces the ejaculate fluid – expelled when a man ejaculates. It also helps push out semen from the body.
Early symptoms of Prostate Cancer are among others a weak flow of urine, traces of blood in urine as well as the abnormal increased need to urinate. Victims may also experience back pain and erectile dysfunction.
In the United States, about one in seven men face a diagnosis in their lifetime, the most found male reproductive system cancer. Prostate Cancer is also the second most deadly after Lung Cancer. Despite its seriousness, most men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer do not die from it.
As much as it is a deadly cancer, more than 2.9 million men in the United States alone are living with it. A lot of these men may not even know that they have it, as many autopsies have shown that men who have died from other caused also had prostate cancer that did not affect them when they were alive.
Source: Medical Daily