Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
This Father's Day, while we celebrate the wonderful dads in our lives, let's also make sure we're taking care of them for the long haul. In Australia, 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and over 3,000 are likely to lose their battle each year*. As September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, we encourage you to give your fathers the gifts of awareness and encouragement to stay informed and active about their health. To learn more about prostate cancer and how medical technologies are positively impacting patient outcomes, we spoke to leading Urological Surgeon, Ruban Thanigasalam .
What is prostate cancer, and what are the symptoms?
Prostate cancer is a malignant disease of the prostate that can be classified as low, intermediate or high risk.?Most screening and blood tests that detect localised prostate cancer are asymptomatic. Advanced prostate cancer can present with lower urinary tract symptoms, bone pain and lethargy/weight loss (if metastatic).?
How is prostate cancer diagnosed, and how important is it to be diagnosed early?
Prostate cancer is often first suspected with a raised PSA blood test (or low free: total ratio <10%), which leads to the urologist organising an MRI prostate scan for further evaluation. Depending on the results of an MRI and biopsy, the urologist will decide the next steps to take, but generally, if the patient has intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer, early detection and treatment may improve long-term oncological outcomes.
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How valuable are medical technologies in treating prostate cancer - have they impacted efficiencies in any way?
Surgical robots have had a significant impact on speeding up the patient's recovery from a radical prostatectomy (RP) with a shorter length of stay, less pain, faster return to work, lower risk of blood transfusions and lower risk of major complications compared to the traditional open RP technique. Robotic RP has similar oncological outcomes to open RP, however earlier return of functional outcomes (particularly urinary function recovery) may be improved with robotic surgery.?Undoubtedly surgical robots have improved the magnification and precision of RP, thus leading to more accurate?procedures,?particularly when dealing with more complex patients.?
In your practice, have you seen an increase or decrease in patients over the years being diagnosed with prostate cancer, and why do you think this trend is occurring?
We have generally seen an increase in the number of men being diagnosed with prostate cancer in my practice, primarily due to increased vigilance by general practitioners (GP) in organising PSA blood tests and regular follow-ups for patients, and also increased health education for patients who request PSA testing with their GP once they reach 50 years of age.?If there are any abnormalities in PSA they are referred to us urologists, and we can then organise an MRI of the prostate, and appropriately advise which patients should undergo further testing.