After over a year of battling metastatic prostate cancer, baseball legend and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg passed away on July 28, 2025.

Sandberg was known for his exceptional talent and grit on the field, and he showed the same courage off the field, speaking publicly about his diagnosis and fight with the disease.

He was first diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer in January 2024. Following chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he was declared cancer-free in August 2024. Unfortunately, the cancer returned within four months, spreading to other organs.

Prostate cancer can be aggressive, and Sandberg’s story is a sobering reminder of the importance of raising awareness about early detection and prevention.

What Is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer reported in men in the United States, with an estimated number of cases of 313,780 and 35,770 deaths in 2025. It begins in the prostate gland, a small organ below the bladder that helps produce semen.

Prostate cancer rates dropped by nearly 40% between 2007 and 2014. This decline was largely due to fewer men getting PSA tests, especially after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advised against screening men over 75 in 2008, and then, temporarily, all men in 2012.

But since 2014, there has been a shift. Prostate cancer rates have started climbing by about 3% each year. That includes a 2.4% yearly increase in early-stage cases and more than a 4.5% rise in advanced-stage diagnoses, which started trending up as early as 2011.

One recent study found that over half of men in the U.S. living with metastatic prostate cancer were originally diagnosed with early-stage disease.

Risk Factors

While the cause of prostate cancer is not exactly known, and anyone with a prostate can develop this disease, some factors increase the risk:

• Age: The risk of developing prostate cancer starts to rise significantly after age 55 and peaks at age 70-74.
• Family history: Having a father or brother with prostate cancer doubles your risk.
• Race: Black men are 60% more likely to develop prostate cancer and have 2-4 times higher death rates from the disease.
• Lifestyle: Diet and obesity may also play a role.

Prostate Cancer Signs and Symptoms

Early prostate cancer often has no symptoms. When they do appear, symptoms may include:

• Difficulty starting and maintaining steady urination
• Frequent urination
• Blood in the urine or semen
• Pain or discomfort during urination
• Erectile dysfunction

Prostate Cancer Screening and Early Detection

Prostate cancer is often found through:

• Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test: PSA test is a blood test that measures the levels of PSA, a protein produced by the prostate gland. Notably, PSA tests are not always accurate as they can be elevated in individuals with other prostate conditions. So the test can sometimes show a false positive, which may lead to unnecessary and uncomfortable biopsies. On the flip side, false negatives can happen too, giving men a false sense of security. Because of these limitations, there is still debate about whether routine screening does more good than harm.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that men between the ages of 55 and 69 make a personal decision about PSA screening in consultation with their doctor. That conversation should take into account things like family history, race, existing health issues, and how a man weighs the pros and cons of possible outcomes.

For men 70 and older, the USPSTF recommends against routine PSA screening.

• Digital rectal exam (DRE): A digital rectal exam (DRE) is an important test for the early detection of prostate cancer. Because the prostate gland is located where it cannot be felt from outside the body, doctors perform a DRE by gently inserting a lubricated, gloved finger into the patient's rectum to check for lumps, enlargement, or areas of hardness that may be signs of prostate cancer.

• Prostate Cancer Biopsy: Once PSA tests and a digital rectal exam (DRE) suggest that an individual may have prostate cancer, a core needle prostate biopsy is typically performed. This involves using imaging techniques, such as transrectal ultrasound, MRI, or both, to guide the procedure. A thin, hollow needle is inserted into the prostate either through the rectal wall or through the skin between the scrotum and anus. When the needle is withdrawn, it removes a small cylinder of prostate tissue. This process is repeated several times to collect samples from different areas of the prostate. The biopsy samples are then sent to a laboratory to determine whether they contain cancer cells.

Talk to your doctor about when screening is right for you. The American Cancer Society recommends shared decision-making beginning at age 50 or earlier for high-risk groups.

Treatment Options

Depending on the stage and aggressiveness of the cancer, treatments may include:

• Active surveillance
• Surgery (prostatectomy)
• Radiation therapy
• Ablative therapy
• Hormone therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Targeted therapy

Expert Recommendations

Several prominent sports figures, such as basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and football star Michael Haynes, have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thanks to early detection and routine testing, their cancers were caught in the early stages and were treatable.

In our interview with Dr. Sachdev Thomas, a board-certified medical oncologist specializing in genitourinary cancers, he emphasized the importance of early detection, noting:

“More importantly, when you have symptoms, please speak to your doctor. Screening for prostate cancer is a very simple blood test, and I am a big advocate of that. Especially if you have had a family history of someone with prostate cancer, or even a relative with other cancers, for example, breast cancer, please make your physician aware, and specifically request the testing if it's not already part of your routine checkups.”