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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - It's the most common major cancer in America, even though it affects only one sex. Lifetime odds of getting it are 1 in 6. Testing for it is controversial, and treating it robs many of a body part that's important to their sexuality. This isn't breast cancer, a disease tattooed into the American psyche. It is its male counterpart, prostate cancer, which has made a much fainter mark.
Prostate cancer gets a fraction of what is spent on breast cancer research, and virtually nothing is known about what causes it.
It is the only cancer that doctors debate not just how to treat but whether they should at all. Nine out of 10 men don't need treatment but the rest will die, and there's no good way to tell them apart. It also kills at a higher rate than breast cancer. Nearly 32 men out of 100,000 will die of prostate cancer; 27 women out of 100,000 die of breast cancer.
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