Prostate cancer awareness

If you want to know more about prostate changes and prostate cancer symptoms, this information is for you.

What is a prostate and who is at risk?

The prostate makes the liquid part of semen. It’s about the size of a walnut and found just below the bladder.

People who can get prostate cancer include men, trans women and some non-binary people.

Prostate cancer risk is higher in older age groups, Black men, and those with a family history of the disease. But it can affect anyone with a prostate.

Prostate changes

It’s common for the prostate to get larger with age, especially in men over 50. This is called an ‘enlarged prostate’ or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

BPH is not cancer. It often causes changes in how you pee, such as:

peeing more than normal
regularly needing to pee urgently
needing to pee lots during the night
finding it hard to pee

Although these symptoms are commonly caused by BPH, they can be caused by other conditions too, such as an infection.

Prostate cancer symptoms

Early-stage prostate cancer usually has no symptoms. This is because when prostate cancer is small and hasn’t spread, it usually isn’t big enough to press on the tube that carries pee out of the body (the urethra).

Later-stage prostate cancer has been linked to symptoms, such as:

losing weight without trying to
feeling tired for no reason
bone pain
changes to how often or how easily you pee
difficulty getting or keeping an erection
blood in your pee

Even if it’s not listed here, if you notice a change that’s not normal for you, get it checked out. In most cases it won’t be cancer. But if it is, finding it means treatment can start, which can make a real difference.

Why is there no screening for prostate cancer?

There’s no screening for prostate cancer in the UK because we don’t have a reliable enough test.

The prostate specific antigen (PSA) test is a blood test often used to help diagnose prostate cancer in those with symptoms.

But research shows that the harms of PSA testing outweigh the benefits in those without symptoms.

The PSA test can miss some prostate cancers and pick up cancers that wouldn’t have gone on to cause any harm. It can also result in some people having unnecessary treatment.

Talk to your doctor

Even though prostate changes aren’t usually caused by prostate cancer, it’s still important to speak to your doctor about anything unusual for you.

Here are some tips:

Be prepared

Think about how to describe any changes and how long you’ve had them for. Write down what you want to say and ask.

Be honest

Tell the doctor about anything unusual, even if it doesn’t seem that important or you think it might be embarrassing.

Be thorough

Mention all your symptoms. Don’t put anything down to ‘just getting older’ or another health condition.

Stick with it

You’re not wasting your doctor’s time. Even if it’s hard to get an appointment or you’ve been to see them already, they want to know if something’s still not right.

Research is beating cancer

What if it is cancer?

Cancer survival is increasing – more people are surviving their cancer than ever before.

Thanks to research, there are a range of good options to treat prostate cancer. Treatments are now kinder and more effective than ever.

How to find out more

Visit our website

Find out more about the prostate and prostate cancer at cruk.org/prostate

...and on the phone

Our Nurse Helpline is there if you’re looking for any information or support. Just call 0808 800 4040.

And if you have any questions about Cancer Research UK or would like to support what we’re doing, you can call 0300 123 1022.

About this page

Ref: PROS_MOB

Created on: July 2024

Due for review by: July 2027