Do you live in fear of prostate cancer every time your hip bone area begins aching, as you imagine that this is a metastasis from a tumor in your prostate?
“Every prostate cancer is unique,” says Michael Herman, MD, Director of Urologic Oncology at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, NY.
“Occasionally, there are aggressive prostate cancers that spread to the bones early [including hip bone], but the majority of prostate cancers take years to spread to the bones, if in fact they ever do,” continues Dr. Herman.
In most cases of these metastases, the first area is actually the bones including the hip.
“Luckily, many prostate cancers are not aggressive, and if men are diagnosed with these types of prostate cancer, they typically die with the disease, not because of the disease.
“The important thing is to distinguish between these non-aggressive, or indolent, prostate cancers, and the more aggressive types.
“As of now, the only way to know whether or not you have an aggressive or indolent prostate cancer is to go to a urologist and get screened for prostate cancer.
“If it turns out that you are at risk for aggressive prostate cancer, a prostate biopsy may be necessary.”
If you’re having hip pain but have not been diagnosed with prostate cancer, chances are exceedingly high that your hurting hip is musculoskeletal in origin or reacting to pressure applied to it such as from a tight seatbelt.
Prostate cancer metastases to the spine, pelvis and femur. Wan-Hsiu Liao, Sheng-Hsiang Lin and Tsu-Tuan Wu, CC BY-SA 2.0/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Wikimedia Commons
Dr. Herman’s interests include reducing the over-diagnosis and over-treatment of prostate cancer by utilizing the latest biomarkers and imaging techniques. He is at the forefront of treatment and research of urologic cancers.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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