Urology Awareness Month

Urology Awareness Month aims to raise awareness of urology diseases including:

• Bladder
• Kidney
• Prostate
• Male reproductive cancers
• Non-malignant conditions including incontinence, urinary tract infections (UTIs), erectile dysfunction and kidney stones

Symptoms for Urological Cancers

Bladder Cancer:

• needing to urinate frequently
• needs to urinate very suddenly
• pain when passing urine

Bladder cancer can affect both men and women but is more common in men and those over the age of 50.

Kidney Cancer:

• tiredness
• loss of appetite
• weight loss
• a high temperature and excessive sweating
• a pain in the side (below the ribs) that won't go away
• a general feeling of poor health

Kidney cancer is more common in men than women. Around 3 out of 4 people who are diagnosed with kidney cancer are aged 60 or older.

Prostate Cancer:

• difficulty passing urine
• needing to urinate very often, especially at night
• needing to urinate very suddenly
• pain when passing urine
• blood in the urine

These symptoms could also be a sign of a benign enlarged prostate.

Men under 50 have a very low risk of prostate cancer but their risk increases as they get older. Age is the strongest risk factor for prostate cancer.

Testicular Cancer:

• swelling or a lump in a testicle, which is usually painless - occasionally the swelling may suddenly increase in size and become painful.
• a dull ache or pain, or heaviness in the scrotum

If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body, there may be some of the following symptoms:

• pain in the back, groin, or lower abdomen - cause by the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes in the back of the abdomen
• a cough, breathlessness or difficulty swallowing if lymph nodes in the chest area are affected. Rarely, if the cancer has spread to the lungs, coughing and breathlessness may be the main symptoms
• nipple/breast tenderness or breast swelling (gynaecomastia) - this isn't common but can be caused by hormones produced by the cancer.

The theme for this year's Urology Awareness Month is Men's Urology Health:Myths and Legends

From prostate cancer, testicular cancer and all urology cancers to bladder issues, erectile dysfunction and kidney stones, males are being urged to recognise when something's not right below the belt.

Please seek medical advice if you have any of the above symptoms for longer than three weeks, or you feel that something just isn't right. We know that there are barriers to men asking for help with their health and urological health can sometimes be seen as embarrassing and difficult to talk about but all of our clinicians are used to talking about these problems and will do their best to make you feel comfortable when talking about your issue.  Early diagnosis can improve the chances of successful treatment.