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The epidemiological significance of prostate cancer is due to the fact that almost 10 men are diagnosed with it each year only in Poland. 450 men contract the disease in Europe, and more than 100 men die of prostate cancer each year across the continent. These are very disturbing data – says prof. Piotr Chłosta, MD, PhD, President of the Polish Society of Urology.
- The risk of developing prostate cancer increases with age. However, one cannot exclude the disease in a 30-40 year old man, especially when there were similar cases in the immediate family – explains prof. Flogging
- The urologist is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment and management of the patient for the rest of his life. It is a specialist who can become a man’s best medical friend for many years
- We cannot prevent you from getting prostate cancer. However, the risk of aggressive treatments for this disease can be reduced. The condition is regular examination – after the age of 40 men should do it once a year
- It should be emphasized that in Poland patients with prostate cancer have access to all methods of treatment, and Polish urologists are properly prepared to use them. However, not all treatments are free, says Prof. Chłosta, president of PTU
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The prostate gland (prostate, prostate gland) is the most common organ in men. In young men, prostatitis predominates, while in older men – growth or neoplasm.
The incidence of prostate cancer increases with age. For this reason, prostate cancer affects mostly men over 80 years of age, and men aged 60+ begin to suffer from the disease. However, the development of this disease in a 30-40-year-old man cannot be ruled out.
Prostate cancer – a disease that is detected more and more often
Prostate cancer is diagnosed more and more often in Poland and in the world. This is due to two factors: the systematically increasing life expectancy and the correlation between the occurrence of prostate cancer and older age. There is also a relationship related to genetic predisposition, as there is an 11-fold higher risk of prostate cancer in people with a family history of prostate neoplasms.
The urologist is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment and management of the patient for the rest of his life. It is a specialist who can become a man’s best medical friend for many years.
It should be emphasized that because the diagnosis is more and more frequent in younger men, the goal of the Polish Society of Urology and urologists is the earliest and accurate diagnosis of prostate diseases. This is very important because in the entire pool of malignant neoplasms diagnosed in our country, the share of so-called urological malignant neoplasms is over 25%, and the dominant group here is prostate neoplasms. They constitute as much as 50 percent. urological tumors. – the problem is therefore serious. Bladder cancer is second, kidney cancer is third, and testicular cancer comes second.
- If a father, brother or grandfather has been ill, the risk increases up to ten times
Early detection saves lives
We cannot prevent you from getting prostate cancer. However, the risk of aggressive treatments for this disease can be reduced. The condition is that the disease is diagnosed early, when the cancer is at a less advanced stage. Raising awareness in this matter is facilitated by, among others, educational campaigns organized by the Polish Society of Urology. The catchy and eye-catching slogans of the campaigns are not empty, because if we detect prostate disease early, it is possible to cure it completely. For this reason, every man over 40 should undergo urologist examinations at least once a year – especially if there have been cases of prostate cancer in the family.
Prostate cancer is diagnosed only on the basis of a prostate biopsy. It is performed transrectally – under the supervision of ultrasonography or magnetic resonance and ultrasonography. Important: prostate cancer is not diagnosed on the basis of MRI results or an increased value of the PSA antigen. PSA is not a cancer marker. PSA is a specific prostate antigen and its level determination is used to assess the condition of the prostate and not to diagnose prostate cancer.
- It does not give any symptoms for a long time. What are the first symptoms of prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer – there are many treatment options
It should be emphasized that prostate cancer is not a sentence. The prognosis for this disease is directly proportional to:
- tumor advancement and its location – it is important whether the tumor is confined to the prostate gland only;
- the oncological potential of the neoplasm, i.e. the degree of its malignancy – the higher the potential, the greater the risk of disease recurrence after treatment;
- the existence of metastases – this factor determines whether the cancer has become a systemic disease, that is, covering the whole organism;
- the type of treatment to be given.
In the case of the elderly, for whom radical treatment is not possible, you have to live with prostate cancer – as with a chronic disease. And go with him – which does not mean, however, that prostate cancer will be the cause of death.
If the disease is confined to the prostate gland and the estimated life expectancy of the patient is more than 10 years, then radical treatment is used, most often surgical – in the open technique (traditional surgery) or laparoscopically or with the use of a robot. Unfortunately, the last of the above-mentioned methods is currently only available under commercial conditions. Although more and more often such procedures are also performed in public medical centers, the procedure has still not been reimbursed by the National Health Fund. The aim of the operation is to excise the prostate gland along with the lymph nodes in the border of healthy tissues.
Traditional surgeries are gradually being abandoned in favor of minimally invasive techniques, which are a burden for the patient’s body, moreover, they enable the best precise local control of the disease and ensure the best overall and cancer-specific survival time.
Men who cannot undergo surgery or who do not consent to surgery are irradiated. The results obtained with this method are comparable to those obtained during surgery, however, recurrence of the disease cannot be ruled out here, as it is related to the presence of a prostate gland in the body.
In men whose disease is systemic, i.e. there are metastases, or when the patient has such a strong advancement of the local tumor that it is impossible to apply radical treatment, surgical procedures are used after hormonal or chemical short-term medical treatment.
- Men are afraid of this study. how exactly is the prostate controlled?
Modern hormone therapy – when is treatment refunded?
It should be emphasized that in Poland patients with prostate cancer have access to all treatment methods, and Polish urologists – of which I am extremely proud as the president of PTU – are properly prepared to use them. However, not all treatments are free. Therapies with the use of modern second-generation hormonal drugs are not reimbursed. Free treatment here is only available as part of drug programs.
Modern hormone therapy is very effective and has a lower percentage of side effects, for example in relation to chemotherapy. Very good overall survival results for three therapies were presented at the congresses of the most important urological institutions in the world. These are antiandrogens: enzalutamide, darolutamide, apalutamide. The presented results indicate that there is a chance of delaying disease progression and reducing the risk of metastases in patients with hormone-resistant cancer. The second group of patients includes men whose prostate cancer is still sensitive to hormone therapy – these results indicate that these people could also benefit from treatment with these second-generation antiandrogens.
It is very important that with regard to pharmacotherapy, the recent progress in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer concerns the shifting and intensification of treatment to the earlier stages of the disease – sensitive or insensitive to hormones. For those patients who develop further disease, the greatest benefits of doing so are delaying the onset of metastasis and prolonging survival in those who might be candidates for hormone therapy. Delaying disease progression or the onset of metastases is a very important time – both for the patient and the doctor. Thanks to modern drugs administered quickly, we have the opportunity to obtain this time. Research shows that the delay in the occurrence of metastases can be up to 2 years – this applies to as much as 75%. sick.
Fewer metastases, of course, mean less disease progression and better overall survival, and therefore greater tumor-specific survival. The median for overall survival in such a situation is even 73,9 months.
These data show how important is the role of a urologist who, thanks to a better understanding of the biology of prostate cancer, having tools in the form of methods and drugs to conduct modern and, above all, effective therapies, can contribute to prolonging the life of his patients suffering from gland cancer. stepper and may – what is very important for the patient – improve the quality of this life.
The article comes from the campaign “W trosce o seniów” prepared by Warsaw Press, and the media partner of which is MedTvoiLokony. All materials can be found on http://seniorzy.warsawpress.com/
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