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Who is at risk of developing prostate cancer?Therefore, many researchers believe there is a genetic link to the development of this disease. For African-American men, there is a two-times higher risk of developing and dying of prostate cancer than white males. It is because of these higher risk that screening needs to begin around age 40 for those patients with a family history of prostate cancer or around age 45 for African-American men. For the remaining males, screening should begin around age 50 with a blood test and a digital rectal exam. Screening consists of a blood test on an annual basis consisting of the prostate specific antigen, or PSA. This is a normal substance produced by the prostate cells and can be tested to measure their level within the bloodstream. Very little PSA escapes from a healthy prostate into the bloodstream, but as damage occurs to the cells in cancer, larger amounts of PSA can leak into the blood. A digital rectal exam can be done by either a primary care doctor or a urologist. As mentioned previously, the most common site for prostate cancer is in the periphery of the gland. Therefore, palpation of the posterior surface of the prostate through the rectal wall is effective in identifying nodules often consistent with prostate cancer. Recently, there has been controversy in deciding how long prostate screening should be performed. As a urologist, I believe that stopping the screening process at age 75, as recently advocated by some researchers, would be premature. I will certainly keep my attention turned to the development of these guidelines, but until the guidelines are widely accepted, my rule of thumb is that everyone with a 10-year life expectancy or greater needs prostate screening. In closing, I will leave you with some recent statistics showing that over the past 25 years the overall five-year survival rate for all stages of prostate cancer has increased from roughly 69 percent to nearly 100 percent. Naturally the more aggressive tumors have a lower survival rate, but our ability to treat all stages of prostate cancer has increased tremendously due to research. # # # Dr. Andrew Krueger is a board-certified urologist practicing with Mountain View Urology. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio. He completed an internship and residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit in urology. He can be reached by calling 654-6015. NOTE: Issues on this site regarding prostate cancer and treatment options, are provided for information only, and are not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or other medical professional. Prostate-Report.org does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment. |
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