Men miss prostate cancer symptoms through ‘ignorance’
Prostate cancer is the commonest male cancer in Britain, with nearly 32,000 cases diagnosed each year. One man dies every hour from the disease.
Yet most men are ignorant of the signs and symptoms, according to a survey of more than 2,500 men carried out by the Everyman Campaign.
The campaign is calling for more funding for prostate cancer research and urges men to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease.
The survey, which launches the tenth Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Month in June, found that nearly a third of the men questioned would be too embarrassed to speak to their male friends about their prostate cancer concerns; only one in ten thought that men were as informed about male health issues as were women about female cancers.
Professor Colin Cooper, head of the Everyman Campaign, which was set up ten years ago by the Institute for Cancer Research, said: “Prostate cancer kills more than 10,000 men in the UK each year. It is imperative that we bring the disease to the forefront of cancer awareness and research.
“We need not only to continue to raise awareness but also to continue to drive funding into this area. Prostate cancer research is ten years behind research for other major cancers, and this is largely due to lack of funding.”
Men questioned in the survey said that women were better informed about their own diseases because there was more information available (40 per cent) and because they were more comfortable talking about their health than men (40 per cent). Women were also better at asking for advice from doctors, men admitted (17 per cent).
More than 75 per cent of men did not know what a PSA test was. It is a blood test for prostate specific antigen, which can sometimes give useful information.
Over the past ten years, the campaign says, there has been a great deal of progress in knowledge of prostate cancer but further research is desperately needed. The good news is that the treatment for testicular cancer has dramatically improved. The earlier the disease is caught, the higher the survival rate, so awareness of male cancer remains vital.
Sir Terry Wogan, a supporter of the campaign, said: “Much more research is needed to discover the causes of prostate cancer and to find better treatments. Making a donation during Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Month helps to fund this vital work and ultimately saves lives.”
Sufferers from another prostate problem, benign enlargement, which is not normally life-threatening but which can cause extreme discomfort, can benefit from Botox, a conference of the American Urological Association was told yesterday.
Researchers at the Chang Gung University Medical College, Taiwan, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, gave Botox injections directly into the prostate glands of 37 men with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Up to one year after the injection, 27 of these patients, or 73 per cent, experienced a 30 per cent improvement in urinary tract symptoms and quality of life. Patients did not experience any significant side-effects.
“Millions of men suffer from enlarged prostate,” Michael Chancellor, the senior author of the study, said. “Our results are encouraging because they indicate that Botox could represent a simple, safe and effective treatment for enlarged prostate that has long-term benefits.”
According to Yao-Chi Chu-ang, of Chang Gung University, Botox reduces the size of the prostate gland through a cellular process called apo- ptosis, in which the prostate cells die in a programmed manner. This reduction can improve urine flow and decrease residual urine in the bladder.
source : www.timesonline.co.uk
