Prostate cancer: How young is too young?

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous malignancy in men. It is generally considered a cancer of the elderly, and the median age of presentation is 68 years. However 10% of new diagnoses in the USA occur in men aged ≤ 55 years. This may be due to more prevalent screening nowadays, and may also reflect the diagnosis of an increasingly recognized but underappreciated entity, i.e. early-onset prostate cancer. Patients with early onset prostate cancer pose unique challenges. Current data suggest that early-onset prostate cancer is a distinct phenotype -from both an etiological and clinical perspective -that deserves further attention. We present a case of a 28-year-old man who presented with lower urinary tract symptoms and was diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer.