Myth: Prostate Cancer Is For Older Men
Fact: While its true that the majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are older, it can strike younger men, too. About 40 percent of all cases occur in men younger than 65, according to the ACS. Its not uncommon at all for men in their fifties and some in their forties to have prostate cancer, says Sartor.
The exact age you should start getting regularly screened for prostate cancer is still an area of confusion and debate. At least start talking to your doctor about PSA testing once youre 50 years old, the ACS recommends. The exception to this is if the disease runs in your family, in which case its a good idea to start PSA screening earlier, at age 40 or 45.
What Are The Risk Factors For Prostate Cancer
The most important factors that increase the risk of prostate cancer are African American race, a family history of prostate cancer, and increasing age. Black men have a 60% higher risk of prostate cancer than white men and are approximately twice as likely to die of prostate cancer. People with a family history of prostate cancer are at increased risk, and having more than one family member with prostate cancer increases the risk further. Older men have a higher risk of prostate cancer than younger men, with more than 50% of all diagnoses occurring after the age of 65 and 97% occurring after the age of 50. There are also certain genetic syndromes that increase the risk of prostate cancer such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and, as new evidence is suggesting, Lynch Syndrome .
Reduce The Prostate Cancer Death Rate C08
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18.3 prostate cancer deaths per 100,000 males
Target:
Baseline:18.8 prostate cancer deaths per 100,000 males occurred in 2018
Reduce the prostate cancer death rate
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Myth: Psa Tests Are Bad For You
Fact: Some prostate cancer experts recommend against regular PSA testing, but not necessarily because of the test itself which is just a simple blood test. PSA screening certainly isnt perfect, but it doesnt pose any actual danger to your health. The real hazard is anxiety and sometimes faulty decision-making when it comes to interpreting and acting on PSA results. According to the ACS, PSA levels usually go above 4 when prostate cancer develops. However, a PSA level between 4 and 10 results in a prostate cancer diagnosis only about 25 percent of the time.
Causes of a high PSA can range from things like bicycling to ejaculation. As a result, some men are given invasive biopsies that arent needed. Or, if they do have cancer, they may be treated aggressively for slow-growing tumors that might never have caused any issues.
Which is not to say that PSA tests arent valuable or that they cant save lives. In the years since theyve been widely used, says Dr. Wei, prostate cancer diagnoses have gone up but the death rate is going down. This is at least in part because PSA tests lead to more investigation, which can find cancer early when its more receptive to treatment. Talk with your doctor about whether and how often you should be screened for prostate cancer.
Genetic Testing For Prostate Cancer
You may hear a lot about genetics or genomics. Both terms are related to genes and cell DNA, but they are different. These tests are being used to learn more about the DNA of cancer cells, and link DNA mutations with treatments. In the future, genetic testing may be the first step doctors take when diagnosing prostate cancer.
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Prostate Cancer In New Zealand Men
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Kiwi men. Every year nearly 4000 men are diagnosed and about 650 die from the disease the third highest cause of death after lung and bowel cancers.
Mori men have a slightly lower incidence of prostate cancer but have a higher death rate than other New Zealand men. The reasons for this may be a later diagnosis or treatment choices offered to them.
Overall, the number of men diagnosed in New Zealand is increasing, largely due to increased rates of testing and the death rate is slowly dropping, largely due to better outcomes from early diagnosis and improved treatments available.
Myth: Prostate Cancer Treatment Always Causes Incontinence
Fact: Next to sexual function, men worry most about urinary incontinence as a result of prostate cancer treatment. Sartor says sexual side effects are more common than the urinary side effects the year after surgery. The majority of people do not have significant urinary problems.
If you do have bladder problems, youre more likely to face minor leakage than major accidents and in most men, the situation is temporary or treatable.
To help ensure the best outcome after surgery, Sartor recommends looking for a surgeon who has performed the procedure many times surgeons who are on their 900th procedure, for example, not their 41st. Experience does matter, he says. Its important to consider.
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Are You At Risk
In the UK, about 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime.
Prostate cancer mainly affects men over 50, and your risk increases with age. The risk is even higher for black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer.
Find out more about your risk.
See and share our infographic on prostate cancer risk.
Thousands Of Men With Prostate Cancer Get Risky Treatment They Dont Need New Approaches Could Curb That
The findings leave little doubt about the importance of informed decision making and the need for physician-patient discussions prior to deciding a course of action for early-stage prostate cancer, said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.
I think that this whole paper is a huge cry that we need to make sure that people are informed and are taking part in their treatment decisions, Brawley told MedPage Today.
The lower rate of regret among men on active surveillance might also reflect on the informed decision-making process, although the study did not specifically examine that issue, he added.
In the United States, its almost impossible to put someone on observation, after you have told them they have cancer, and not inform them, the way I think someone should be informed, said Brawley. Its very easy to tell someone you have cancer and were going to do a radical prostatectomy next Monday and not inform them. It may very well be that the people who got observation were more fully or better informed and better understood what they were facing, compared with the people who got aggressive therapy.
A study reported earlier this year reinforced the need for informed decision making based on physician-patient discussions about treatment options. The study showed high rates of regret among men who relied primarily on internet-based information about prostate cancer treatment to decide how their own disease should be treated.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Prostate Cancer
In most cases, prostate cancer causes no symptoms.
In rare cases, men may experience certain symptoms when they have advanced prostate cancer. However, these symptoms are also present in many men who do not have cancer, so it is best to discuss them with a doctor before jumping to any conclusions. Some of these symptoms can include difficulty emptying the bladder, blood in the urine, and bone pains.
Prostate Cancer: A Guide For Aging Men
Prostate cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the world, despite it only being diagnosed in males . In fact, more than 70 percent of men over the age of 80 have some quantity of cancer cells in their prostate.
Its so common that it sometimes doesnt go diagnosed until autopsies are performed, though that doesnt mean the cancer is the cause of death. On the contrary, the overall prognosis for men diagnosed with prostate cancer is as positive as you can get when talking about the dreaded c word. The five-year survival rates for the disease are close to 100 percent, especially when talking about prostate cancer that is caught early on in the processbefore it spreads.
The five-year survival rates for the disease are close to 100 percent, especially when talking about prostate cancer that is caught early on in the processbefore it spreads.
Nevertheless, prostate cancer is serious business, and the best way to handle a diagnosis is to be informed. Lets take a look at the frequency at which its diagnosed, how youre tested for it, how it can affect your daily life, and what we can do to try and prevent the disease.
Average Age of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
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Study Suggests Prostate Cancer Management Should Emphasize Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Boston, MA Men diagnosed with prostate cancer are less likely to die from the disease than from largely preventable conditions such as heart disease, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health . It is the largest study to date that looks at causes of death among men with prostate cancer, and suggests that encouraging healthy lifestyle changes should play an important role in prostate cancer management.
Our results are relevant for several million men living with prostate cancer in the United States, said first author Mara Epstein, a postdoctoral researcher at HSPH. We hope this study will encourage physicians to use a prostate cancer diagnosis as a teachable moment to encourage a healthier lifestyle, which could improve the overall health of men with prostate cancer, increasing both the duration and quality of their life.
The study was published July 25, 2012 in the Advance Access online Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers examined causes of death among prostate cancer cases recorded in the U.S. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program and the nationwide Swedish Cancer and Cause of Death registries .
Death rates from prostate cancer varied by age and calendar year of diagnosis, with the highest number of deaths from the disease among men diagnosed at older ages and those diagnosed in the earlier years of the surveys .
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Approach To Prostate Cancer Screening
Patients generally should be evaluated by a urologist if physical examination of the prostate reveals any area of asymmetry, nodularity or induration, because up to 50 percent of these findings will be caused by prostate cancer.8 The problem with using only the digital rectal examination as a screening tool is that it does not detect cancers before they have spread beyond the prostate. More than 50 percent of prostate cancers diagnosed by digital rectal examination have spread locally or have metastasized to lymph nodes or bone.
The approach to screening has been revolutionized by the discovery of PSA as a serum marker that is 70 to 80 percent sensitive for prostate cancer. This serum marker is a protein made only by prostate cells. Serum PSA levels are proportional to either the total volume of prostate tissue or the amount of irritation in the prostate . Either increased volume or irritation causes PSA to spill from the prostate into the bloodstream.
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Once a patient reaches 70 years of age or competing comorbid conditions limit survival beyond 10 to 15 years, consideration can be given to terminating prostate screening as long as the patient remains asymptomatic.
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The Early Warning Signs
Late diagnosis can reduce chances of survival, limit treatment options or result in more invasive interventions.
So, it’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms.
The difficulty is most men with early prostate cancer dont have any signs or symptoms, according to Prostate Cancer UK.
One reason for this is the way the cancer grows – you usually only get early symptoms if the cancer grows near the urethra and presses against it, changing the way you urinate.
If you do notice changes in the way you urinate, this is more likely to be a sign of a very common non-cancerous problem called an enlarged prostate, or another health problem.
But its still a good idea to get it checked out.
Other signs to look out for include:
- difficulty starting to urinate or emptying your bladder
- a weak flow when you urinate
- a feeling that your bladder hasnt emptied properly
- dribbling urine after you finish urinating
- needing to urinate more often than usual, especially at night
- a sudden need to urinate you may sometimes leak urine before you get to the toilet
If prostate cancer breaks out of the prostate or spreads to other parts of the body, it can cause other symptoms, including:
- back pain, hip pain or pelvis pain
- problems getting or keeping an erection
- blood in the urine or semen
- unexplained weight loss
Half Of Men Over 60 Have Prostate Cancer But Most Die Of Other Causes
A new study looking at the prevalence of prostate cancer in men over 60 years of age found that just about 50 percent of men have the cancer. This statistic isn’t as distrubing as it sounds most prostate cancers never develop into a harmful form of the disease and a large proportion of men will pass away from other causes without their prostate cancer progressing and becoming invasive.
The current study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, examined 320 men from Russia and Japan who had died at the age of 60 or older between 2010 and 2011. None of the men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer before their death. Men from Russia were used for the survey because they have similar fat intakes and sun exposures compared to North American men. Japanese men were examined because the incidence of prostate cancer is lower in the male population of Japan, most likely resulting in different diet compared to Caucasian North American men.
How often men should be tested for prostate cancer is a topic of debate among healthcare professionals. After all, the bottom line is that most American men will get prostate cancer if they live long enough. But many of them never experience any ill effects from the cancer, and typically die of natural causes having nothing to do with the prostate. And in fact, many doctors believe that prostate cancer is over-treated because not all men progress to a dangerous form of the disease.
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It Was Estimated That In :
- 115,800 Canadian men would be diagnosed with cancer and 44,100 men would die from cancer.
- 110,000 Canadian women would be diagnosed with cancer and 39,300 women would die from cancer.
- On average, 617 Canadians would be diagnosed with cancer every day.
- On average, 228 Canadians would die from cancer every day.
- Lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancer are the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer in Canada .
- These 4 cancers account for about half of all new cancer cases.
- Prostate cancer accounts for one-fifth of all new cancer cases in men.
- Lung cancer accounts for 14% of all new cases of cancer.
- Breast cancer accounts for one-quarter of all new cancer cases in women
- Colorectal cancer accounts for 12% of all new cancer cases.
What Are The Statistics For Prostate Cancer
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The rate of prostate cancer is higher in African-American men than white men. African-American men are also more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer. The reasons why are not known. But some risk factors may play a part, such as differences in genes.
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About 164,690 men in the U.S. will get prostate cancer in 2018. It is the most common cancer in men, not including skin cancer. Nearly 2 out of 3 of these men will be age 65 or older.
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Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the U.S. after lung cancer. About 29,430 men will die of prostate cancer in 2018.
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What Is A Normal Psa Test Result
There is no specific normal or abnormal level of PSA in the blood, and levels may vary over time in the same man. In the past, most doctors considered PSA levels of 4.0 ng/mL and lower as normal. Therefore, if a man had a PSA level above 4.0 ng/mL, doctors would often recommend a prostate biopsy to determine whether prostate cancer was present.
However, more recent studies have shown that some men with PSA levels below 4.0 ng/mL have prostate cancer and that many men with higher levels do not have prostate cancer . In addition, various factors can cause a mans PSA level to fluctuate. For example, a mans PSA level often rises if he has prostatitis or a urinary tract infection. Prostate biopsies and prostate surgery also increase PSA level. Conversely, some drugsincluding finasteride and dutasteride , which are used to treat BPHlower a mans PSA level. PSA level may also vary somewhat across testing laboratories.
Another complicating factor is that studies to establish the normal range of PSA levels have been conducted primarily in populations of White men. Although expert opinions vary, there is no clear consensus regarding the optimal PSA threshold for recommending a prostate biopsy for men of any racial or ethnic group.
In general, however, the higher a mans PSA level, the more likely it is that he has prostate cancer. Moreover, a continuous rise in a mans PSA level over time may also be a sign of prostate cancer.
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