Promaxo Celebrates Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
It seems like cancer affects nearly all of us one way or another—either in battling the disease ourselves or watching a friend or loved one take it on. And that’s not surprising, considering how prevalent cancer is today. For example, did you know that about 11% of all American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives?
Given Promaxo’s keen interest in men’s health and prostate cancer, that stat is hard to read. But we also know the best way to combat prostate cancer is through early detection and heightening the conversation around the disease. That’s why we’re participating in Prostate Cancer Awareness Month—the worldwide movement that takes place each September—in the hopes of generating discussion that can potentially save lives in the future. Today, we wanted to answer some foundational questions about what prostate cancer is, what causes it, how it’s detected and how it’s treated.
What is prostate cancer?
To properly answer the question, what is prostate cancer, we should start with a brief explanation of the prostate. On its website, the Prostate Cancer Foundation describes it as “a small, rubbery gland about the size of a ping-pong ball, located deep inside the groin, between the base of the penis and the rectum.” It’s also critical for reproduction, supplying a component of semen that mixes with sperm originating from the testes.
Prostate cancer occurs when the cells in the gland begin to grow out of control. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly all types of prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas, though prostate cancers typically grow slowly. Prostate cancer has four main stages: one through four, with some stages split based on different variables found within the cancer.
What causes prostate cancer?
Despite the many medical advancements that have taken place, researchers still aren’t able to pinpoint definitive prostate cancer causes. What we do know is what we said earlier: Prostate cancer occurs due to uncontrollable cell growth within the gland. And one of the things causing cells to grow wildly is DNA mutations, which can be either passed on by a parent or acquired as someone ages.
How is prostate cancer detected?
Unlike many other forms of cancer, most prostate cancers won’t cause the types of symptoms in early stages that raise red flags. The most likely way for a man to learn he has prostate cancer is through proactive screening. The first and easiest screening is what’s called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. This analysis measures the amount of PSA, a protein made by both normal and cancerous cells, in the blood. As the PSA score rises, so, too, does the possibility of prostate cancer. A digital rectal exam, or DRE, is another form of screening in which a doctor inserts a finger into the rectum to feel for any areas on the prostate that seem abnormal. As the above methods are not definitive ways to find cancer, this leads to a greater need of improving the way PCA is identified, such as screening MRIs.
If the results of a PSA test or DRE cause concern, the next step is usually for the man to have a prostate biopsy to confirm the prostate cancer diagnosis. Given the need for a follow-up test for confirmation, it does call into question the reliability of the PSA test and DRE. In fact, it’s that level of uncertainty that led to the development of more advanced protocols using MRI or MRI-guided targeted biopsies offer a more targeted approach to identifying high grade cancers.
Beyond just offering up a better way to identify prostate cancer, these advanced methods enable the use of noninvasive focal therapies that represent an improvement over traditional treatment modalities. Focal therapy focuses on only treating the lesion or lesions of interest rather than treating the entire gland and can reduce or eliminate the risk of nerve damage and side effects associated with treating prostate cancer, including impotence, incontinence and penile length reduction.
There are many different factors involved in prostate health—including age, family history and overall health—that will determine what the doctor suggests. If there is a sign of cancer growth, doctors will elect for observation or active surveillance. Observation (also referred to as watchful waiting) essentially refers to routine checkups to see if anything has changed. Active surveillance involves the patient coming back to undergo a number of tests at regular intervals for up to six months. Watchful waiting is more passive, whereas the latter is more severe, as the names suggest.
It’s because of these complexities that movements like Prostate Cancer Awareness Month exist. It’s vital that men are made aware of their options and are comfortable having an open dialogue with their doctors. The earlier prostate cancer is detected, the more likely that treatment will be successful.
How is prostate cancer treated?
As we mentioned earlier, observation and active surveillance are two forms of treatment that can take place after a prostate cancer diagnosis. But it’s important to know there are several other, more invasive forms of treatment, including prostatectomy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy.
A prostatectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the prostate and nearby tissues, while radiotherapy uses high-energy rays to kill cancerous cells. Hormone therapy reduces the level of male hormones, and chemotherapy is the injection of anti-cancer drugs.
Despite the fact that so many men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis, it’s actually a highly treatable disease. There are more than 3.1 million men in the U.S. today who have received a diagnosis at some point, and the disease has a 98% five- and 10-year survival rate.
Promaxo cares about men’s health
We’re honored to play a part in Prostate Cancer Awareness Month to help shed light on what can be done to detect the disease early and eventually overcome it. We recommend all men take part in an annual physical and discuss the appropriate time to begin screening for prostate cancer. We know it’s not a fun conversation to have, but it’s one that could save your life.
Image Credits:
Image 2: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-man-reading-newspaper-1652340/
Image 4: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-and-silver-stetoscope-40568/