When men turn 50, a prostate exam is usually recommended to be part of their general physical screening. Sometimes men who are younger are prevailed upon to undergo a prostate exam if they are at a higher risk of prostate cancer; for instance, men who have close relatives who have had the disease. Men who […]

When men turn 50, a prostate exam is usually recommended to be part of their general physical screening. Sometimes men who are younger are prevailed upon to undergo a prostate exam if they are at a higher risk of prostate cancer; for instance, men who have close relatives who have had the disease. Men who go to their physician complaining of prostate symptoms, such as difficulty and pain in urination, pain during orgasm, difficulty achieving erection, or the presence of blood in urine or semen, will probably also be asked to have a prostate exam.

A prostate exam can be done manually and in this case, it could be uncomfortable and embarrassing. The doctor inserts a finger into the patient’s rectum and moves it in a circular motion to check the rear surface of the prostate for abnormalities. While presenting some discomfort, this prostate exam is usually painless and only takes about a minute.

The process described above is called the digital rectal exam (DRE). If the prostate is healthy, it would be 2-4 centimeters long and triangular. It should be firm, but not hard. Hardness or a lump could spell trouble. In the event that a lump is, indeed, detected, a biopsy on some of its sample tissues will be required. Usually, a lump is benign but such a growth would still cause prostate symptoms like urinary problems because of the pressure the enlarged size puts on the urethra. However, a lump may also indicate malignancy and it would be fortunate to have detected it because cancer usually does not produce prostate symptoms at an early stage. Symptoms are usually experienced by the victim when the cancer has progressed to an advanced stage.

Another prostate exam available to patients is a blood screening called prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. It cannot be said which is the better prostate exam because both of them have limitations. The PSA test may sometimes miss the presence of cancers while the DRE is confined to the rear part of the gland. It may be advisable to undergo both. The DRE is decidedly the much cheaper prostate exam.

A prostate exam has definitely become a necessary part of health assessment for men as cancer rarely makes itself felt through the usual prostate symptoms. Prostate cancer being the most common kind suffered by men, it makes perfect sense to look out for the health of this otherwise ignored body part.