Abstract

Are conditions of the prostate gland related to one another or is it just the man’s age that connects them? Over the last ten years increasingly more hypotheses and studies have been published, suggesting that one of the initiating links between prostatic enlargement and a tumorous change could be an inflammatory process in the prostate gland. A study conducted in the USA showed that in the case of earlier prostatic infection the risk of BPH and prostate cancer is 3.3 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than it is for the control group. Adding the fact that there is a clear connection between the rate of prostate growth, degree of tumour’s aggressiveness and PSA level, as well as the fact that hyperplastic or inflammatory changes in the gland are detected in about 80% of men with prostate cancer, the missing puzzle pieces soon fall into their right places.