Prostate Cancer, Advanced Or Metastatic: Symptoms

Content provided by Healthwise

Symptoms

Prostate cancer may not cause noticeable symptoms. Possible symptoms of locally advanced prostate cancer are:

• Having difficulty starting your urine stream. This is called hesitancy.
• Having a weaker-than-normal urine stream.
• Not being able to urinate at all.
• Having to urinate often.
• Feeling that your bladder is not emptying completely when you urinate.
• Having to get up at night to urinate. This is called nocturia.
• Having pain or a burning feeling when you urinate. This is called dysuria.
• Having blood in your urine. This is called hematuria.
• Having a deep pain in your lower back, abdomen, hip, or pelvis.
• Having blood in your semen. This is called hematospermia or hemospermia.

These symptoms also may be caused by:

• Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which is an enlarged prostate. This is very common in older men. The prostate usually grows larger with age. When it gets large enough, it can press against the urethra and cause urination problems.
• Prostatitis, an infection in the prostate.
• Urinary tract infection, an infection in any of the organs and tubes that process and carry urine out of the body.

Symptoms that may indicate the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, or metastasized, include:

• Weight loss.
• Bone pain.
• Swelling in the legs and feet.

Last updated:	July 01, 2008
Author:	Bets Davis, MFA
Reviewed By:	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine, Christopher G. Wood, MD, FACS - Urology/Oncology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC