What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer happens when cells in the prostate gland change and start to grow quickly. These cancer cells can affect how the prostate works normally. Prostate cancer generally occurs in older men. It is often a slow growing cancer and problems may not occur for many years.

In Ireland, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, after skin cancer. Each year about 2407 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed. This means that 1 in 12 Irishmen will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. Although there are many men with this disease, most men do not die from it.