Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer occurs when cells within the prostate grow and divide abnormally and a tumour grows in the prostate. Prostate cancer cells can be very slow growing and not cause any problems or symptoms, and may not become life-threatening. In other cases, the cancer cells can grow more rapidly and may spread to other parts of the body.
Over the last 20 years, the incidence rate of prostate cancer in Australian males has more than doubled. This is likely to be the result of increased detection through PSA testing. In contrast, the mortality rate has only declined slightly.
Prostate cancer was the most common cancer in Australia in 2004, accounting for 16% of all new cancer cases.
In 2005, prostate cancer was the fourth most common cause of cancer death in Australia, accounting for 7.5% of all cancer deaths. There were 2837 deaths from prostate cancer, accounting for 13.5% of cancer deaths in Australian men.