Where is the prostate?
The prostate is about the size of a walnut and shaped like a doughnut. It sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the top part of the urethra, the tube which urine passes through on its way from the bladder to the penis. This position around the urethra means that as the prostate grows the urethra becomes narrower, sometimes making it difficult for urine to flow through. The prostate may slow or even stop urine passing through. Pelvic floor muscles support both the bladder and the bowel and stretch from one side of the pelvis to the other. The prostate lies on these muscles that run from the tailbone at the back to the pelvic bone at the front. This group of muscles also surrounds the urethra and rectum and helps to stop urine leaking from the bladder. Because the prostate is located near the rectum (back passage), growth of the prostate can be checked by a rectal examination where a doctor places a gloved finger into the rectum.
• Your prostate lies at the base of your bladder, the sac that holds your urine. • The front of your prostate is wrapped around your urethra, the tube that runs down from your bladder and through your penis. The urethra carries urine and semen (your sperm and the fluid they are carried in) out of your body. Any change in the size or shape of the prostate can pinch this tube, making it difficult for you to urinate. • The back of your prostate presses against your rectum The rectum is the last six to eight inches of the large intestine, ending with the anus (where you empty your bowels). rectum. This is why your doctor examines your rectum if there’s a problem with your prostate. He or she can feel the gland through the rectum wall. • The prostate is connected to two other glands, called seminal vesicles, which sit like small bunches of grapes on either side of the prostate. These glands also make some of the fluid that comes out when you ejaculate (push out semen from the penis) at the
Now to see a ultra sound picture of what cancer looks like. The photo above is a picture of the Ultrasound Screen at the time of an actual biopsy. On the picture on the left you will notice a kind of a broken white line that goes from the right of the photo, up and across and then down toward the bottom. At the left end of the white line you will see the beginning of a dark area that extends down to the bottom of the scan. Now go to the right picture and at about the same place you will see a long blue area in the same place as the dark area on the left picture. The reason that this is blue is because cancer cells need a lot of blood to grow and the blue indicates that this area is “hot” and more blood then in the other areas. The balance of the blue and the red areas also show blood but these are normal parts of the prostate. The blue dot above the line of the prostate is probably a blood vessel. The single cancerous area is of an average size of 1.3cm. It actually involves both lobes
