Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of death among men over fifty. One thousand five hundred people die every year and six thousand new cases in Hungary.
Dr. Péter Nyirády, Director of the Urology Clinic of Semmelweis University, points out that the number of deaths could be greatly reduced if men aged 45-50 and over visited a urologist once a year.
PROSTATE CANCER DOES NOT NECESSARILY CAUSE COMPLAINTS AND IS OFTEN DETECTED TOO LATE, WHEN IT HAS METASTASISED.
But if detected early, prostate cancer can be completely cured. The only way to detect the disease early would be for men to go for annual check-ups, like women do to their gynaecologist. The urologist admits that men may be reluctant to undergo this examination (it is done by palpation through the rectum), but it is by no means painful, rather like a gynaecological examination for women. Still, most women go for regular cancer screening because they know that there is nothing worse than the disease and that prevention is the least painful option.
If men were to see a urologist once a year from the age of 45 without complaint, many deaths could be prevented. If the cancer is detected early, surgery is needed and the disease can be survived for decades. According to Péter Nyirády, the majority of Hungarian men unfortunately do not live health-conscious lives, which significantly reduces their chances of survival compared to their counterparts in Austria. In Austria, the number of radical operations is four to five times higher than in Hungary, even though the morbidity rates are similar in the two countries. This means that a quarter to a fifth as many Hungarian men have a chance of long-term survival (before surgery is performed, they are lost).
MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THAT EVEN A BLOOD TEST CAN GIVE YOU A GOOD CHANCE OF FINDING SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR PROSTATE.
Unfortunately, PSA (prostate specific antigen) is not cancer-specific, so it can be elevated not only in prostate cancer but also in cases of prostatitis or enlargement. Nevertheless, according to Péter Nyirády, this is a great help in addition to the palpation test, as the rising value over the years can be used to infer the risk of a risk. According to some studies, if you have a PSA level below 1ng/ml at 45 years of age, your chance of developing prostate cancer is minimal. This test is free, but there are also more sensitive tests: PCA 3 (from urine) and proPSA (from blood). The pro PSA test uses three values (total PSA, free PSA and pro PSA) to calculate a so-called phi (prosate healty index), which is a more reliable way of predicting whether an elevated value is due to a tumour or benign enlargement. In the case of suspicion and/or a high PSA value detected by palpation, a biopsy is also necessary, although this is not a 100% method (it is not certain that the tiny needle will hit the tumour just right).
Unfortunately, prostate cancer can only be prevented by regular visits to the doctor, and the professor cannot recommend any other method, as the exact cause of the disease is not known. It is more common in Scandinavian countries and North America than in Hungary, but less common in the Mediterranean and the Far East.
Source : https://semmelweis.hu/mediasarok/2013/01/08/prosztatarak-megelozheto-lenne-ehelyett-a-masodik-leggyakoribb-halalok/
