Thanks Kevin for sharing your experience with us and Geraldton.
The prostate is a small gland which only men possess, about chestnut size , sitting at the base of the pelvis between the bladder and the rectum. It produces some of the ejaculation fluid. It seldom is cause for trouble during the first 5 decades of life but slowly tends to grow and impact on the urethra and urine flow , so that most men eventually end up with some symptoms of flow obstruction which can be treated medically or surgically if indicated and desired.
Symptoms of benign (good ) overgrowth of prostate:
- Poor urinary stream
- Hesitancy ,Difficulty to start urination
- Dribbling after urination is finished
- Frequency Urine is passed more often
- Urgency , you need to pass urgently
- Poor emptying your bladder feels poorely emptied
Sadly the same symptoms can herald prostate cancer , which makes picking it up by your symptoms alone difficult. Warning signs for prostate cancer can be pain at the base of the penis , pelvis and back , blood in the Urine.
There are currently 3 methods to screen for prostate cancer a digital examination of the rectum and prostate , a Blood-test ( Prostate specific Antigen = PSA) and ultrasound of the prostate. None of these methods seems perfect, as they all more or less under- and over diagnose cancer and therefore often lead to unnecessary intervention , pain-full biopsies , impotence , faecal and urinary incontinence and even avoidable death. All methods and current treatment might actually not improve quality of life and overall survival chance from prostate cancer. The royal college of GP’s in Australia currently recommends against a general screening of the overall population of men for prostate cancer. It seems currently wiser to aim the Screening at men with increased risk and only after thorough case to case discussion of the benefits and risks of screening with each individual man.
Opportunistic Screening should be offered to :
- men between 50 – 70 years of age
- men with strong family history of prostate cancer
Other risk factors can be:
- certain breast-cancer genes in the female part of your family
- diet high in fats and low in fruit and vegetables
- exposure to the metal cadmium
A recent study in NSW shows - PSA blood screening can potentially detect cancer early before appearance of symptoms , the frequency of late advanced stages prostate cancer has definitely fallen since it was introduced in the late 80ies. Overall death rates from prostate cancer have fallen since than as well, wether this is due to increased uptake of PSA testing or advances in urological and medical treatment has yet to be investigated in urgently needed upcoming studies.
No easy answers! ,but your doctor can help you to make the right decisions.
Helko Schenk
Geraldton Medical Group
12 2 2009
Useful sources and sometimes reading:
- www.abc.net.au/health/thepuls/stories “The prostate and the PSA test”
- Medical Journal of Australia “Prostate cancer and prostate-specific testing in New South Wales”
- Prostate Screening Policy endorsed by RACGP 2006
- “Making and informed choice about PSA screening” Ward/Gattellari Australian Family Practitioner 2001
- www.patient.co.uk “Prostate Cancer”
The prostate is a small gland which only men possess, about chestnut size , sitting at the base of the pelvis between the bladder and the rectum. It produces some of the ejaculation fluid. It seldom is cause for trouble during the first 5 decades of life but slowly tends to grow and impact on the urethra and urine flow , so that most men eventually end up with some symptoms of flow obstruction which can be treated medically or surgically if indicated and desired.
Symptoms of benign (good ) overgrowth of prostate:
- Poor urinary stream
- Hesitancy ,Difficulty to start urination
- Dribbling after urination is finished
- Frequency Urine is passed more often
- Urgency , you need to pass urgently
- Poor emptying your bladder feels poorely emptied
Sadly the same symptoms can herald prostate cancer , which makes picking it up by your symptoms alone difficult. Warning signs for prostate cancer can be pain at the base of the penis , pelvis and back , blood in the Urine.
There are currently 3 methods to screen for prostate cancer a digital examination of the rectum and prostate , a Blood-test ( Prostate specific Antigen = PSA) and ultrasound of the prostate. None of these methods seems perfect, as they all more or less under- and over diagnose cancer and therefore often lead to unnecessary intervention , pain-full biopsies , impotence , faecal and urinary incontinence and even avoidable death. All methods and current treatment might actually not improve quality of life and overall survival chance from prostate cancer. The royal college of GP’s in Australia currently recommends against a general screening of the overall population of men for prostate cancer. It seems currently wiser to aim the Screening at men with increased risk and only after thorough case to case discussion of the benefits and risks of screening with each individual man.
Opportunistic Screening should be offered to :
- men between 50 – 70 years of age
- men with strong family history of prostate cancer
Other risk factors can be:
- certain breast-cancer genes in the female part of your family
- diet high in fats and low in fruit and vegetables
- exposure to the metal cadmium
A recent study in NSW shows - PSA blood screening can potentially detect cancer early before appearance of symptoms , the frequency of late advanced stages prostate cancer has definitely fallen since it was introduced in the late 80ies. Overall death rates from prostate cancer have fallen since than as well, wether this is due to increased uptake of PSA testing or advances in urological and medical treatment has yet to be investigated in urgently needed upcoming studies.
No easy answers! ,but your doctor can help you to make the right decisions.
Helko Schenk
Geraldton Medical Group
12 2 2009
Useful sources and sometimes reading:
- www.abc.net.au/health/thepuls/stories “The prostate and the PSA test”
- Medical Journal of Australia “Prostate cancer and prostate-specific testing in New South Wales”
- Prostate Screening Policy endorsed by RACGP 2006
- “Making and informed choice about PSA screening” Ward/Gattellari Australian Family Practitioner 2001
- www.patient.co.uk “Prostate Cancer”
No comments:
Post a Comment