March is prostate cancer awareness month. In the UK, about 48,600 men are diagnosed with it each year. If you are a trans woman or are non-binary assigned male at birth, you also need to be aware of prostate cancer and its effects.

Types of prostate cancer

There are a number of different types of prostate cancer:

• early prostate cancer
• locally-advanced prostate cancer
• advanced prostate cancer

In addition, the doctor will give your prostate cancer a stage, a grade and a risk group to help decide on the best treatment for you. Learn more about the staging and grading of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer symptoms

You may not experience any symptoms in the early stage of prostate cancer.

It is only when the cancer is large enough to press on the tube that carries the urine from the bladder (urethra) that symptoms can occur.

These can include:

• needing to pee more often than usual, especially at night
• difficulty peeing – for example, a weak flow or having to strain to start peeing
• feeling like you have not completely emptied your bladder

Sometimes the symptoms of benign (non-cancerous) prostate conditions and prostate cancer are similar. If you have any prostate cancer symptoms, it is important to have them checked by your doctor.  Your GP can do tests to find out if you need a referral to a specialist doctor.

Click here to view our Prostate Cancer Articles.