The big C takes a chunk out of human life, wherever it appears – in whatever form. The lost years and the lost productivity take their toll not just on individuals and their families – but the entire world.

You know what a barcode looks like – with the lines and numbers that are scanned for just about anything you buy these days. This graphic model may be used to better detect aggressive prostate cancers.

Detecting prostate cancer is not always simple. A doctor may have to take up to 18 tissue samples to find the disease. A way of imaging with tiny bubbles may make diagnosis easier.

While treatments for prostate cancer can be very effective, they can also cause erectile dysfunction. Now, genetic markers may help identify which patients are more likely to get Erectile Dysfunction (ED).

Anxiety from cancer can lead to all kinds of problems including depression and sexual dysfunction. Counseling after prostate cancer treatments may help improve quality of life.

Being overweight not only increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes, it also may promote colon, kidney and esophageal cancer. Now prostate cancer may join the list of health risks.

Knowing the genetic make-up of any cancer can help guide treatment. A protein that’s seen in high levels in bladder cancer may not like being engulfed in medications that block the male hormones.

One of the genes that helps to keep cancer from ever forming is the p53 gene. It works by blocking cancer cells from killing themselves. When p53 is messed up in some way, cancer cells go to town and wreak havoc.

More men are aggressively treated for prostate cancer than is necessary to save a life from the disease, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. For men with low-risk cancer, careful monitoring may be preferred.