Health screening – prostate
Dr Aisha Bhaiyat
Up until now, I have been recommending and writing about how screening for cancers saves lives. In this article, I will not recommend screening for prostate cancer. Instead, I will give you the information to make an informed decision as to whether or not prostate cancer screening is for you.
Firstly, if you’re female then prostate screening is definitely not for you. The prostate is a gland only found in men. It sits at the base of the bladder, surrounding the tube that empties the bladder when urinating. This tube is called the urethra. The prostate produces a fluid that bathes and protects sperm in semen. It is normal for the prostate to get bigger as men age. Sometimes, as the prostate enlarges it can impinge upon the urethra and this can result in problems with passing urine. This type of non-cancerous enlargement is very common and can be found in men over the age of 50. However, the prostate can also develop a cancer.
Although prostate cancer is a common type of cancer and can kill, it is different to most other types of cancer. It is very common in older men and may not grow or cause any problems for many years, if ever. And more men live with prostate cancer than die of it. However, prostate cancer screening does exist and can save lives.
Prostate cancer screening
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This means that two-thirds of men having prostate cancer screening are put through unnecessary worry and tests which may carry complications. Additionally, even if there is a prostate cancer, there is no way of knowing which of these patients will go onto having problems due to the cancer and which will remain unaffected by the disease. Some men with a slow growing prostate cancer that was never going to cause any problems in first place may be subjected to cancer treatments they do not need. Risks are associated with such treatments, for instance incontinence and sexual
Noticing a lump in the penis can be a frightening experience. Men are often concerned that they have developed a cancer. Cancer within the penile shaft is very rare indeed, while Peyronie's disease is by far the most common cause of such lumps. If you find a lump, it is important to seek prompt medical advice, but you should not be too fearful that a serious cause will be found
As the author highlighted in this book, the quickest way to be diagnosed for prostate cancer is to be screened for it; the same notion applies for many other diseases and illness. With the advent of the technological age, doctors are now able to see more than they did before, and therefore, are more quick to diagnose illnesses and cancers early. As Welch explains, the problem with that is that not all illness or cancers will kill you; some cancers will stick around, but never cause any harm. So, this leads to screening for cancers that were never going to kill a patient, that end up being detected early on and dealt with, thus giving credit to early screening as a success story. As Welch explains, most illnesses and injuries that undertake a natural course of events, without medical intervention, usually heal on their own. This is problematic because it creates this idea that medical intervention is helpful and necessary, when that is not always the case. In general, as a society, the benefits of medical care have been over-exaggerated, while the harms of medical care have been largely ignored. If Welchs’ instructions were followed, a closer examination of the effect of screenings and tests would be the new medical
In Joan Dunayer’s, “Here’s to Your Health” she attempts to contrast the “glamorous myths” about alcohol advertisement. Specifically those alcohol advertisement that are presented by U.S. media, and popular culture to what Dunayer considers to be “factual data”. Throughout she offers counterexamples to each of the presented alcohol advertisement by using “factual data” to plays on the readers’ common knowledge, but gives no sources. Dunayer try to strength of her argument on society’s acceptance of alcohol and the media’s prolific showing alcohol ads when she says, “more than 300,000 alcohol commercials appeared on U.S. television”, this agreement sound logically but her statements are addressed to a very specific audience or reader (Dunayer).
Prostate cancer has been the number one diagnosed cancer today. According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in every ten American men will develop prostate cancer during his lifespan. This cancer has been very common in the last few years. American Cancer Society reported over 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer. Huge number of population suffered severely. The prostate is significant for reproduction. It helps the substances that are involved in fertilization and transporting of sperm as well as survival. Prostate tumor is developed in the prostate gland, which is found in the men’s reproductive system. Prostate is the size of a walnut, which is located inferiorly in the penis and anterior to the rectum. It contains the connective tissue, which includes the glandular and fibrous tissues. This tumor starts to develop during their adolescent year due to the control of the male reproductive hormones. When the tumor starts to develop, it begins at the urethra, which is a tube that releases the urine from the bladder. The tumor is a slow development yet it is contagious to the other parts of the body, such as it does affect the pelvic bones, lungs, liver, and the lower vertebrae (Zenka, 2009).
For these reasons, minorities often put off the expense of seeing a doctor until they have advanced disease and are past being easily treated. A lack of education, rural or inner city residence, unemployment, and low literacy rate may also contribute to higher cancer mortality rates for some communities. In several studies researchers investigates whether socioeconomic status is the reason for the disparity in prostate cancer incidence, where African Americans and Non- Hispanic Whites are the top two candidates for prostate cancer. Some results found that the highest level of cancer incidence was positively correlated with low socioeconomic status (Cheng, et al.,
According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer health disparities are defined as the adverse differences between specific populations and the achievement of an optimal state of health. These population groups are categorized by geographic location, income, disability, age, education, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or race. These factors correlate with cancer mortality rates that impact specific population groups in the United States, cancer prevalence is the number of people diagnosed or living with cancer, and cancer incidence which is the number of new cancer cases in a population. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2013, there were an estimated 1,660,290 new cases of cancer and 580,350 of the new cases resulted in mortality. Individuals who have limited access to healthcare, health illiterate, and poverty stricken are more likely to develop cancer. This means a person’s socioeconomic status can determine the likelihood of their probability of developing cancer
Why is this important? Mammograms don’t prevent breast cancer, but they can save lives by finding breast cancer as early as possible (breastcancer.org). It is important to assure the conditions that the person can remain healthy. Screenings for breast cancer helps find cancer early. When it is shown early, it is often treatable. More people will live longer than expected. For instance, mammograms have been shown to reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer by 35% in women over the age of 50. In women between the ages of 40 and 50, the risk reduction appears to be slightly less. (breastcancer.org). Mammograms is an X-ray picture of the breast. It is important to get mammograms once every year. The earlier, the better a person can get rid of the cancerous cells in their body (Levana, 2014).
Testicular cancer is only present in males because only males have testicles. About 8,820 cases of testicular cancer are diagnosed every year. About 380 men die from testicular cancer each year. This is actually a very high survival rate. Also, the risk of a man dying from testicular cancer is about 1 in 5,000 because it is highly treatable and sometimes can be curable. It seems that the group most affected by testicular cancer is middle aged men, the average age to be diagnosed is 33. Only 6% of testicular cancer cases occur in children and teens, and about 7% of testicular cancer cases are men above 55 years old. All in all, testicular cancer is a type of cancer only in males and starts off in the testicles. It is not that common and the survival rate is very high because of the technology and doctors of today.
Lung cancer screening tests are recommended only for adults who have no symptoms but may be at high risk for developing lung cancer. There are three things you should ask yourself before being screened for lung cancer, have you smoked in the past 15 years? Were, or are you a heavy smoker? Are you 55-80 years old? There are three risks of doing screening tests. One is that it can be said that someone has lung cancer, when no cancer is present, which may lead to unnecessary tests, and surgeries. This is called false-positive res...
Cancer has become a very common illness worldwide for any age, but mostly affecting adults. One can get cancer from different places in the body, that is why there are so many people with cancer, because of all the different types. Cancer can affect any gender, female or male, and any age. It varies from ovarian cancer to prostate cancer, skin cancer to lukemia. Cancer has been a problem for many years, yet we have not found a cure to treat and prevent cancer.
Pyenson, B. S., Sander, M. S., Jiang, Y., Kahn, H., & Mulshine, J. L. (2012). An actuarial analysis shows that offering lung cancer screening as an insurance benefit would save lives at relatively low cost. Health Affairs, 31(4), 770-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009893765?accountid=89121.
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Tumors are then created and interfering with the digestive, nervous and circulatory systems. It is one of the most leading causes of death, reaching at about 8.2 million deaths in 2012. It is expected that cancer will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next 2 decades. With over 100 cancer research centers in the United States studying how to treat this disease, people need to understand the importance of donating also with the awareness of signs and symptoms in the early stages. But, what are we doing about it? Do we have the technology to finally be able to put this deadly disease to an end?
Breast Cancer As defined by Majure, breast cancer is an “uncontrolled growth of abnormal breast cells” (Majure: 110). It is also one of the cancers that women fear the most. Not only do women get diagnosed with breast cancer, men do too. However, it isn't as bad, or as common, in men as it is in women, so doctors don’t recommend screening for men.
The human male reproductive system organs are located outside of the body around the pelvic region of a male (wikipedia, 2010). The testes produce sperm that would fertilize the female’s egg. Males have several secondary genitalia’s the penis, sperm ducts, epididymis, vas deferens and the urethra. The urethra is used for two purposes to urine and to ejaculate semen. Males also have accessory glands such as the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, and bulbourethral glands. The prostate gland contributes fluid for ejaculation. Prostate fluids helps to nourish the sperm (Web Md, 2009). The seminal vesicle makes up most of the volume of a man's ejaculatory fluid and provide the sperm with nutrients that give the sperm energy(Web Md, 2009). Bulbourethral glands produce a clear, slippery fluid that empties directly into the urethra. This fluid serves to lubricate the urethra ...
Another test for early detection of prostate cancer has been the digital rectal exam (DRE). Although DRE is a better method for early detection, it is also a hindrance among men, particularly African-American men, to screening and early detection (Plowden, 2009). According to American Cancer Society (ACS) and American Urological Association (AUA), the PSA and DRE should be offered annually for all men beginning at age 50 (Gray, 2009). However, they also recommend that African-American men with a family history of prostate cancer should begin testing by age 45 (Plowden, 2009). However, due to the cultural barriers to prostate screening such as lack of understanding, traditions, mist...