Men over 40 encouraged to ungergo annual prostate screenings

02 May 2014 Graham Anderson, Profmed

Graham Anderson, Principal Officer of Profmed.

One in seven men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, with one in 36 dying as a result of this disease. Annual prostate screenings, as part of your preventative screenings, assists in early detection giving the opportunity to deal with the problem earlier, at a reduced cost, as well as improving your health outcomes.

This is according to Graham Anderson, Principal Officer of Profmed, the medical scheme catering exclusively to graduate professionals, who says, prostate cancer occurs mainly in older men. "About 6 out of the 10 cases diagnosed are in men aged 65 or older, and it is rare before age 40.”

"Prostate cancer is normally a slow progressive disease that develops in the prostate. Many men have died of old age without ever knowing they have had prostate cancer and only once the autopsy was conducted, was it detected,” explains Anderson.

He says the problem with cancer of the prostate, as with all other cancers, is that sometimes it can spread to other parts of the body, making control and management of the disease difficult. Therefore it is imperative that men, especially those of the age of 40 and older, should have these screenings done annually.

"As these screenings can be quite costly, medical schemes that encourage preventative healthcare are likely to structure benefits around the screenings in order to minimise the cost to the member. These screenings also benefit the medical industry as early detection lowers the cost for treating the cancer.”

Furthermore, Anderson says it is important to know the stage of the cancer, or how far it has spread. "Knowing the stage the cancer is in helps the doctor define prognosis - it also helps when selecting which therapies and treatments to use,” explains Anderson.

Though symptoms are not always present, when they do exist they are usually detected when:

• The frequency of urination increases;

• It becomes difficult or painful to urinate;

• The patient gets up at night more often to urinate;

• Blood may be present in the urine;

• Ejaculation may be painful.

More advanced symptoms include:

• Bone pain, often in the spine (vertebrae), pelvis, ribs or legs;

• Leg weakness (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord);

• Urinary incontinence (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord);

• Faecal incontinence (if cancer has spread to the spine and compressed the spinal cord).

Anderson says some studies suggest an increase in the prevalence of prostate cancer in men who take anti-inflammatory medication on a daily basis, are obese or have suffered from a sexually transmitted disease specifically gonorrhoea.

Most cancers are as a result of poor lifestyle choices and can be prevented by managing stress and living a healthy lifestyle, with regular exercise.