PENNSYLVANIA, USA — September is prostate cancer awareness month. With the staggering number of cases on the rise, doctors are urging men to know their risks and get screened before their 50s.
An estimated 300,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States this year, and 35,000 will not survive.
"It's usually 45 to 50. However, if they're African American, or there's a family history of prostate cancer or some type of germline mutation in the family, we usually start at 40 to 45 years of age," said Dr. Steven Rockoff, urologist At UPMC.
Dr. Steven Rockoff, a urologist at UPMC, is a strong advocate for screening. He states that an in-depth discussion of the process is also needed.
"You can't just automatically do PSAs on patients. You need to discuss with them why you're doing it and what the purpose of the test is," said Dr. Rockoff.
Dr. Rockoff added that prostate cancer usually is an asymptomatic disease.
"When patients do develop symptoms, a lot of times it's too late at that point because it's more of an advanced disease. Most of the time, it's picked up by rectal exam and PSA blood tests, and clinical suspicion by the urologist."
Factors such as genetics, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle can increase the chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, there are ways to reduce the risk.
"Clearly weight loss, healthy diet, low fat, low saturated fats, decrease in red meat consumption. Obviously, increasing fish and vegetables. You know more of a Mediterranean diet," described Dr. Rockoff.
Dr. Rockoff said a lot of times prostate cancer is genetic, and no matter what you do. The risk is always there. But thanks to advances in technologies and treatments, patients with metastatic prostate cancer are being kept alive longer.
"There are all kinds of new technology that we have now for finding prostate cancer. We're now doing what's called MRI fusion biopsies, which is detecting more aggressive disease. We have ways of delineating metastatic disease with what's called a PSM, a pet scan now."
Dr. Rockoff reiterates that even though technology has advanced greatly over the years, we still have a long way to go.