Autopsy studies show that many elderly men who died of other diseases also had a prostate cancer that neither they nor their doctor were aware of. Some prostate cancers, however, can grow and spread quickly. Cancer may occur about 10 to 20 years after the PIN develops. PIN can be either low grade or high grade. If you have high-grade PIN, cancer is likely to develop and your condition should be watched carefully.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer, excluding skin cancers, in American men.
The American Cancer Society estimates during 2001 approximately 198,100 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. One man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one man in 30 will die of this disease. African-American men are more likely to have prostate cancer than white or Asian men are. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, exceeded only by lung cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 31,500 men in the United States will die of prostate cancer during 2001.