Advanced Prostate Cancer Cases Skyrocket In U.S. Men

[NaturalHigh]

The number of new cases of advanced prostate cancer in the United States has soared by about 72 percent in the last decade, according to a new study.

The report, published today in in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, a journal from Nature, prompted researchers to question whether a recent trend of fewer men being screened may be contributing to the rise.

"One hypothesis is the disease has become more aggressive, regardless of the change in screening," senior study author Dr. Edward Schaeffer, chair of urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Medicine, said in a statement. "The other idea is since screening guidelines have become more lax, when men do get diagnosed, it's at a more advanced stage of disease. Probably both are true. We don't know for sure but this is the focus of our current work."

The researchers looked at information from the National Cancer Data Base, which included more than 767,000 men from 1,089 medical facilities nationwide who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2004 and 2013.


http://www.news9.com/story/32485317/advanced-prostate-cancer-cases-skyrocket-in-us-men

[tonyt53]

1. As a male over 60 I agree, but I think it has more to do with men finally going to get physicals.

I know several that have started in the past few years that seldom ever went to the doctor for anything, much less a physical. I am glad that they are. I've lost two friends to prostate cancer. Hell, even a simple PSA blood test is better than nothing.

[NaturalHigh]

3. I'm overdue myself.

My doctor gave me the lab forms for PSA last month, but I haven't had a chance to get in there yet.

[Glassunion]

2. GET CHECKED!!!

Annually.

[jonno99]

26. Ha! At first glance I thought you had used a "different" word. But of course that "other" word

works even better!

[Glassunion]

27. Lol

[Denzil_DC]

4. Hard to say what's going on.

I'm in the UK, and just after last New Year my older brother, who's always had pretty good health care, was diagnosed with a dangerously high PSA after he started experiencing quick-onset suspicious symptoms. This turned out to be a very aggressive prostate cancer, which luckily hadn't metastasized yet.

Inevitably, I had to go and get checked out, and will be having annual PSA tests from here on in, having established that I have a normal baseline PSA for my age, so we'll be watching for changes in that as I age. (My MD didn't seem inclined to do a physical exam at this stage, and I didn't feel inclined to coax him.) But the tests aren't perfect, nor do symptoms necessarily indicate cancer (as my MD was keen to impress on me), and sometimes if the cancer's slow-progressing, the treatment can be worse than a wait and see approach.

[Kablooie]

5. I had the operation just over month ago.

Last fall I was diagnosed with slightly high PSA levels.
They did 2 biopsies and recommended treatment.
While I was waiting for the operation date my PSA levels suddenly shot up so I guess I got it just in time.

[Denzil_DC]

9. I hope you have a quick and uneventful recovery.

It's a scary diagnosis.

[Kablooie]

12. Still experiencing a few side effects but it wasn't too bad.

I had the brachytherapy treatment. ( You can look up the details )
I went to the hospital in the morning and went home about 4:00 PM.
It was painful urinating for a few weeks but not intolerable.
I still feel some twinges and have sudden urges to pee now and then but that's about it.
The doc said it takes about a year for all the symptoms to completely go away.
It has a 98% of curing the cancer with this treatment so it's pretty good.

[Denzil_DC]

14. Two neighbors on my street had it.

One, in his early 80s, had brachytherapy, and I often see him trotting down the hill to the pub about five years later. The other, in his mid-60s, had surgery (he's never disclosed the details and one doesn't like to pry), and has some long-term URT side effects, but is really active and doing well.

98% is good odds. I'm pleased for you.

[matt819]

6. When you say your PSA is high

How high?

[NaturalHigh]

7. I think you may have meant to respond to someone else.

I have no idea what mine is.

[matt819]

8. It was meant as a reply to the OP

Several people have referred to high PSAs. I was interested to know what people considered high.

Mine has been low-ish, but has gone up. My original urologist, now retired, told me not to be terribly concerned. Really enlarged and cancerous returns very high PSAs. I contrast, mine is relatively low, and my urologist seems okay with annual checks, as am I. But I'm curious what other people have encountered regarding assessments of PSA numbers.

[Denzil_DC]

10. What classes as "high" seems to vary.

My brother's was in the 80s (see above). I've had medics tell me they consider "high" to be well into three figures.

Increases, especially rapid ones, seem to give them most cause for concern.

Lots of things can increase PSA counts, though, from ageing (normal for it to increase) to orgasms to any insult to the prostate, including biopsies and other treatments. The PSA test is generally considered imperfect (can be prone to false positives and false negatives), and also there's a difference between free and total PSA, so just giving a bald score to a layperson isn't necessarily helpful. But it's still one of the useful indicators they have.

I'd talk to your urologist or MD again if you have any abiding concerns.

[Kablooie]

13. For me they just noticed that my baseline level was slightly higher so they started doing tests.

[MurrayDelph]

11. My father died of prostate cancer

that had metastasized into his bones.

Both he and my sister had previously found malignant tumors during colonoscopies, found early-enough to have died from something else. In my sister's case, it was complications of Crohn's.


And to complete the story, my mother died from cancer cells that had metastasized into her lungs from some other, unknown, location.

A couple of years ago, they were afraid I might also have contracted Crohn's, but while they never found out what it was, it wasn't Crohn's and went away.

So my mantra in life has been that you can probe me, poke me, bleed me, hell: you can give me a stock to pee on. If there's something that can be caught or ruled our early, go for it!

[Yo_Mama]

15. It's because of the effort to halt PSA testing, mostly.

Without PSA screening, there is no way to differentiate between BPA and prostate enlargements related to early cancer.

Plus, with the aging population there will be more cases regardless, but the effort to block PSA testing was always going to produce more cases of advanced cancer.

[Nac Mac Feegle]

16. The "normal" PSA range for ages / ethnicities

Age (yr) Whites Blacks Asians
ng of PSA/ml

40-49 <2.5 <2.0 <2.0
50-59 <3.5 <4.0 <3.0
60-69 <4.5 <4.5 <4.0
70-79 <6.5 <5.5 <5.0


Per the chart that came with the results of my last checkup.

At age 54, I came in at 4.2. My GP referred me to a Urologist, during the interview, he said that someone with a job that involved a lot of driving could normally have a level this high, but that we would watch it.

When I mentioned that I had lost an uncle to prostate cancer, he immediately said that I should have a biopsy.

12 core samples later, the results came back. Stage 2b prostate cancer. 3 samples were cancerous, with another 5 pre-cancerous.

I am lucky enough to live in a large city and have good insurance (Live Better: Work Union). I was able to do radiation therapy; 5 days a week for 9 weeks. My last PSA, 2 years after finishing treatment was 0.2.


The only side effect that I've noticed is that I no longer need to turn on a light if I get up to pee in the middle of the night. My wife has developed some sort of night-light fetish in the last couple years, and it's damn near light enough to read by in there.


Get checked: if caught early enough, treatment is a LOT easier.

[NaturalHigh]

20. Thanks for that info.

I'm glad you're doing well.

[NaturalHigh]

22. I just got mine back this morning. 0.8. Woo-hoo!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

17. I told Lover Boy if he insists on conducting his impromptu breast cancer exams

I felt it was my duty to conduct prostate exams when and where I deem most appropriate.

[NaturalHigh]

18. I'm not sure how to respond to that, but I do find it...interesting.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. He didn't really register an opinion; he just backed away slowly, taking little steps.

[bullwinkle428]

21. Sounds like you need to take the bull by the horns and "expand his horizons"

a little bit...just saying.

[Glassunion]

23. Be gentle though... You're not starting a lawnmower.

[spanone]

24. so much for screening...72% in the last decade? holy shit.

[NaturalHigh]

25. Bad stats for men.

[jonno99]

28. I've got an older freind who is promoting the use of Boron (Borax) to fend off

prostate trouble:

http://www.life-enhancement.com/magazine/article/579-whats-new-and-whats-best-for-prostate-health

http://www.curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=2242770

edit:
FYI: My friends regimen is to put just a pinch of '20 Mule-Team Borax' in his coffee pot every day.

[NaturalHigh]

29. Really? I've never heard of that.

Thanks for the links. They will make for interesting reading.