Around one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. It’s more common in black men and men over the age of 65, but can affect any man.
Since the prostate gland grows throughout your life, it’s something to look out for as you grow older.
Prostate cancer symptoms are not always obvious so it’s important to look out for changes in the way you pee. Things to look out for include:
- difficulty when starting to pee
- a weak flow of urine
- dribbling urine before and after urinating
- a sensation of having not totally emptied your bladder fully after peeing
- needing to pee urgently or more often
- waking up in the night to pee more often
These symptoms don’t always mean you have cancer, they can be indicative of other things, such as an enlarged prostate. The important thing to remember is to seek medical advice if you are experiencing symptoms.
This is a surgical procedure to remove the prostate gland. It can be performed as open surgery, or as keyhole surgery.
Keyhole surgery can either be carried out by-hand or robot-assisted. A robot-assisted prostatectomy is a type of minimally invasive, keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery, which our surgeons perform using a robot known as the da Vinci X robot.
The surgeon still carries out the procedure, but with the help of the robot, which the surgeon controls. The robotic console enables the surgeon to make more controlled and precise movements during the operation.
A prostatectomy is generally performed in instances of localised prostate cancer and sometimes when there is locally advanced prostate cancer.
Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy destroy cancer cells in the body.
Radiotherapy does this by using high doses of radiation to kill off the cancerous tumours. Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs specifically designed to kill cancer cells.
Hormone therapy lowers the amount of testosterone your body makes, which helps to slow down the growth of cancer cells. Hormone therapy on its own won’t cure your cancer, so you may be offered this as an option alongside another treatment.
HIFU is a minimally invasive procedure which uses high-frequency ultrasound energy to heat and destroy individual cancerous cells in the prostate. It may be suitable for you if your cancer is contained within your prostate (localised cancer), or if your prostate cancer has started to break out of the prostate and has spread to the area just outside the prostate (locally advanced cancer).
HIFU is a minimally invasive procedure, meaning it doesn’t involve any cuts or incisions to the skin and there is less blood loss. Your hospital stay is also short – often you can be discharged on the same day.
Cryotherapy works in a similar way to HIFU but instead of using heat it uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy cancer cells. The procedure involves the insertion of very fine needles into the prostate, which a doctor will then pass a special gas through to kill the cancer cells.
You might have cryotherapy for cancer that hasn’t spread outside of the prostate. You may also have it for prostate cancer that has come back in the prostate after radiotherapy.
Your hospital stay is generally short – you may only be in hospital for a day or overnight – and recovery is also quick. You are likely to be able to resume normal activities within a few weeks of the procedure
Clinical interests: Professor Ahmed has received the BMJ Award for Innovation 2015 for his group's work in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis of prostate cancer Advice on PSA screening. Advice on prostate cancer risk for men with a family history or other risk factors. Multi-parametric MRI. MRI-guided biopsies, transperineal template biopsies, image-fusion prostate biopsies). Biopsies under local anaesthetic, sedation or general anaesthetic Treatment of Prostate Cancer Focal therapy, HIFU, cryotherapy, active surveillance. Second opinion on treatment options. Member of Multi-disciplinary team meetings for case discussions of all prostate cancer cases. Diagnosis and management and treatment of men with urinary symptoms Benign prostate hyperplasia, lower urinary tract symptoms. Treatment using bipolar TURP, laser, Uro-lift, medical management, self management Diagnosis and management of patients with blood in the urine (haematuria).
Languages spoken: Bengali/English
Clinical interests: Lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma, thymoma/thymic carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, urothelial carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma, penile cancer, cancer genomics and targeted treatment, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, nuclear medicine (Lutetium 177 and Radium 223) treatment for prostate cancer patients.
Languages spoken: Arabic/English
Clinical interests: Management of kidney stones, Prostate and Bladder Cancer Diagnosis, blood in urine, bladder infections, urinary symptoms, incontinence, erectile dysfunction
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Urological cancer and neuro-oncology.
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Professor Heer has extensive experience across the full breadth of general urology. He has specialist interests focused on all aspects of management for prostate and bladder cancer. In particular, he has a reputable high volume robotic surgery practice for prostatectomy (removal of the prostate for cancer), cystectomy (removal of the bladder), and urinary tract reconstruction (ileal conduits and orthotopic bladders). Professor Heer provides excellent surgical outcomes, benchmarked against national standards (BAUS and National Prostate Cancer Audits). He also provides care for male sexual dysfunction, which can follow with these major surgeries.
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Prostate, bladder, kidney, testis, penile cancer
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Prostate cancer; raised PSA; lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS); urinary tract infection (UTI); blood in the urine (haematuria) and semen (haematospermia); scrotal/penile lumps; chronic pelvic pain.
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Breast, brain, endocrine, and urological cancers; stereotactic radiotherapy (CyberKnife and GammaKnife).
Languages spoken: English
Clinical interests: Keyhole kidney and laser stone surgery (endourology) prostate problems both benign and cancer related offering prostate cancer screening, prostate surgery including green light laser surgery for benign prostatic enlargement, all general urological conditions in men and women including urinary infections, blood in the urine, penile and testicular problems as well as bladder problems.
Languages spoken: English/Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu
Clinical interests: Prostate diagnostics, bladder cancer treatment, open and minimally invasive surgery for kidney cancer; all aspects of general urology: contemporary interventions on the enlarged prostate – Greenlight, Urolift, prostate artery embolisation; management of lower urinary tract symptoms and nocturia, urinary tract stones, recurrent UTIs, elevated PSA, blood in the urine, penile and testicular problems, men’s sexual health issues, chronic painful conditions of the urogenital tract
Languages spoken: English/Russian
