“From prostate cancer to infertility, focus on information”

2023-06-03 10:33:00

Benign prostatic hypertrophy, prostate cancer, urinary incontinence, urinary stones, erectile dysfunction and infertility. These are just some of the pathologies of the urinary tract that have a “very significant social and epidemiological impact. For this reason, information and prevention play a fundamental role”. Thus to time.news Salute Giuseppe Carrieri, president of the Italian Society of Urology (Siu) and rector of the Urological Clinic of the University of Foggia, on the occasion of Urology Day which takes place today. ‘Siu Risponde’ is the service that the Scientific Society makes available through the [email protected] help desk to provide the user with indicative advice and answer questions on urological pathologies through its members, thus helping to strengthen the perception of the urologist as a promoter of the well-being of the individual.

“With this initiative – explains Carrieri – we want to raise people’s awareness and make them understand that prevention is always better than cure: there are enormous advantages for patients in terms of quantity and quality of life and at the same time for the NHS because it is much more convenient investing in prevention rather than in cures for pathologies that are now in a very advanced stage”.

Among the urinary tract diseases that affect men “after the age of 50, there are benign prostatic hypertrophy that affects 5 out of 10 men, erectile dysfunction that affects 6 out of 10 men” and prostate cancer, “cancer more widespread in Italy and in the world but which we can intercept in time with a simple blood test, the PSA test, and a urological examination”. If “we intervene early – the expert remarks – we are able to treat and heal the patient definitively from the tumour. If, on the other hand, the patient goes to the specialist when the prostate cancer has already shown signs of itself, at that point it is too late. To defeat the tumour, timeliness, prevention, visits and checks are very important”.

But Urology deals with equally widespread problems, including “urinary stones – underlines Carrieri – which represents the first cause of access to emergency rooms, and urinary incontinence suffered by many women after the age of 50 who think it is ok to use absorbents. In reality, this is not the case. We urologists have lots of medical and surgical solutions to deal with this disorder”.

For Carrieri, the “erectile dysfunction” which afflicts “6 out of 10 men over the age of 50” also has a great social impact. A condition that creates great problems for the life of the couple, so more and more men do not take for granted the fact that they can no longer have sexual relations after a certain age and turn to us urologists to find remedies for erectile dysfunction. And there are many remedies, pharmacological, such as the famous pills for impotence, up to more extreme solutions such as penile prostheses”. Finally, he concludes, “there is much talk of infertility and falling birth rates. In Italy last year less than 400,000 children were born, very few, probably because the quality of sperm in Italian men is of worse quality than in the past”.